30SEP24 - Faction Outposts Launch

The DEVS are pleased to announce the launch of Faction Outposts, a major content release that accompanies the upcoming Faction AI launch, which will dramatically enhance the gaming experience by incorporating PvP gameplay into the Faction ranking system.

The Faction Outpost update is the content release for Faction AI. It includes the largest single injection of content into the game since the launch of Factions and Trade Hubs. The new content package includes:

• 155 new locations on the map across Elgea and the Broken Lands.

• New, unique Outpost names and descriptions that connect directly to the lore.

• Over 15,000 new, original words of lore introduced into the Illyriad legendarium across all of the new Outpost locations.

• 88 new sub-regions named in the content, and 37 new characters (both living and dead).

• New map art representing 12 race-based structures, including towers, elven flets, dwarven halls, orc-infested ruins, and more.

• New art and research for maximizing ranking bonuses on Faction Outposts.

• 100+ pages of new code added to the game.

What are Faction Outposts?

Similar to trade hubs, Faction Outposts are race- and Faction- specific structures that appear on the map in both Elgea and the Broken Lands. Each Outpost corresponds to a Trade Hub and their controlling Faction. 

There are 12 different race-specific structures in total, with 2 variations per playable race in the game, and 1 structure type for additional, non-playable races such as the Fey, Monsters, and Mythical creatures such as the Eaglesbrood. They are as follows:

The 155 squares where these new locations exist are mystery squares, similar to the Eaglesbrood’s eyries and other mysteries on the map. Players will need to spot them on the map and send units to investigate them in order to learn more about them. Each location has a unique description and profile, many of which reference other factions, regions, characters, and historical events that tie into the game’s lore. 

As the player base discovers and documents the locations for these mystery squares, we will add them incrementally into the game’s search bar so that players will be able to easily access the coordinates in the future. 

What do Faction Outposts do? How do they fit in with Faction AI?

Faction Outposts are directly connected to Faction Trade Hubs and, in turn, the Factions that control them. While they do not contain a marketplace like a Trade Hub, they can be visited by diplomatic units; occupied, reinforced, and attacked by military units; and, most importantly, sovereignty can be established on them (this functionality is currently turned off but will be switched on shortly). 

These Faction Outposts will serve as an active ranking factor for Faction AI, and the only ranking factor that will involve PvP. Players who establish sovereignty on a Faction Outpost will gain a substantial ranking bonus with its associated Faction, irrespective of the player’s race or any other factor. If the player is part of the alliance, the alliance will also gain an additional ranking bonus to the alliance’s ranking with that Faction.

What are some of the details about Faction Outposts?

• Faction Outposts feature the same 3x3 square prohibition that surrounds hubs. Just as players cannot settle a city directly next to a Trade Hub, so too are Faction Outposts protected from directly-adjacent player cities.

• Once sov is turned on for these squares, at least 1 army from the city of the player who is claiming sovereignty must remain on the square for the duration of the sov claim resolution (you cannot set the claim and then leave.)

• New research will be introduced for sovereignty that will allow for the construction of a Diplomatic Office sov building (levels I - V). The combination of claiming sov on these squares and building the Diplomatic Office will impart the ranking bonus with the associated Faction

Here is the art for the upcoming research:

Diplomatic Mission

Detente

Bilateral Negotiations

Multilateral Negotiations

Summit

How does the ranking bonus work for Faction AI?

Typically, we won’t be providing details about ranking factors and their bonuses for Faction AI. However, for Faction Outposts, we are offering the player base access into how the ranking bonuses will work in order for players and alliances to understand their significance: 

• The special Faction squares will have a base 1% increase per level of sov to a player’s and associated alliance’s current ranking with the Outpost’s Faction, irrespective of the player’s race or any other factors.

• e.g., sov I: 1%, sov II: 2%, sov III: 3%, sov IV: 4%, sov V: 5%. 

• The new “Diplomatic Office” sov structure will unlock an additional Faction ranking boost, which rises with each sov level from a +10% to +50% increase of the current player ranking with the Faction.

• The base 1%-5% ranking increase that comes from merely claiming the sov will also be added to the ranking bonus from the Diplomatic Office.

• e.g., a player with a +30 ranking with a Faction would receive a ranking increase of: 

• +3.3 (1% from sov I + 10% from Diplomatic Office I = 11%), 

• +6.6 (2% from sov II + 20% from Diplomatic Office II = 22%), 

• +9.9 (3% from sov III + 30% from Diplomatic Office III = 33%), 

• +13.2 (4% from sov IV + 40% from Diplomatic Office IV = 44%), and 

• +16.5 (5% from sov V + 50% from Diplomatic Office V = 55%) 

• The same ranking increase is imparted to the player’s associated alliance’s ranking with the faction as well. This is extremely valuable because it directly boosts the alliance’s ranking.

The ranking bonus will go live with the Active Ranking Factors update for Faction AI, which will be the second expansion after Faction AI’s preliminary launch and limited Faction behaviors expansion thereafter.

NOTE: This ranking system is subject to changes prior to and at launch for the Active Ranking Factors update for Faction AI. If anything about the ranking math changes from what’s published above, we will call that out and update it here.

When will claiming sovereignty go live on Faction Outposts?

While there is no specific date for faction Outposts to be sov’able, the feature will likely go live once the DEVS make improvements to the Foment Unrest counter-claiming mechanic (work is already underway). Once this update is live, the new research will go live and squares will be able to be claimed using the sovereignty mechanic. We will definitely let you know.

In the meantime, however, all Faction Outpost squares are 100% occupiable, reinforceable, and can be controlled by any player or alliance that chooses to do so.

With 8,606,301 squares on the Illy map (including ocean) and only 155 Faction Outpost squares, that means that only ~.0018% of the map’s squares offer these unrivalled ranking bonuses. Those who control these incredibly scarce squares wil wield great power with some of the most formidable Factions in the game!

When is Faction AI Launching?

The Faction Outposts release is the last update before the preliminary Faction AI release. Faction AI is the next planned release, and the first release will feature the launch of passive ranking factors. 

Faction behaviors will not be live with the preliminary Faction AI launch, but a limited behavioral release will go live in a subsequent release.