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Era
Hi all,

As you probably know, Sirdar coded this nice content called Regions, helped by yours truly. This thread is for ideas and comments about them. There's more to come, but exact details aren't fully decided yet, so please contribute if you have something to say.

-Era of idling
Nikana
A quick thank you to all those involved in Regions. This wonderful creation is a nice twist from grinding cash, exp, or (for those who can) eq. Also, the explore was a great idea to get people active in this or at least check it out and see what it's about.


1. Rewards! More importantly, the lack thereof. Takes 30mins to siege, but you only get 500gold - 3k gold + 500 - 4k exp?? It is my understanding that this increases, at least the gold, by large factors, the more castles YOU control. But, how many castles can you really get in one day with your average gametime? 8 castles, if you play for 4 hours and never have to defend! I personally, have only had control of 4 castles at any one time, after playing for 2.5 hours and I didn't notice a difference in cash/exp bonus. I'm sure this is being looked at, but I just see rewards as the big role here. (The major factor is FUN!) It's like a girl dry humping you. At first it's fun, but you get a little bored, if you don't get anything out of it. Enough said!

2. NPC Guards. Again, with the lack of rewards it will be hard to recruit others to help you. Plus, let's face it, this isn't everyone's cup of tea. Also, if you are a Moomin/Gnoll/ect race, then you're solo at this. It would be really nice to hire guards to defend your castle while you are away sieging and expanding your lands. Maybe an ability like sailors have to raise/lower gangway thur the channel. Example: Regions (castle name) cauldrons pour/archers fire/catapult (commands) Along with other guards that actually fight off siegers! Maybe two types: True defenders, which deal little damage but have good PR. And Warriors, which deal major damage but can't take a slap on the wrist.

Also, this would allow a commander to put more money into the treasury to buy defences, so he could sleep without worry of losing his/her castle.


3. Might be a way to make this more of a 'Race' theme, if the controlling race, 60%+ of the castles on a continent, get +exprate on said continent. Kind of like Bloom of Prosperity event.

4. Another random idea. Maybe the time of a controlled castle should be a factor, along with how many castles you control, in giving out rewards/bonuses. Seems only right that if you control a castle for 12 hours that it would give greater rewards the longer you have it. Let's face it, holding castles against 3 siegers is no easy task, when you are off sieging another.


Again, the above statements ARE NOT negative comments or whining. More things I feel need to be improved in some fashion. Overall, I love it. It's a nice twist from the norm. Thanks again to all those that put in the time and effort. Kudos!
Era
1. Rewards, they accumulate with time. You don't directly get rewarded from just gaining control, the treasury gets slowly filled with time, and you can reap the benefits as long as you remain the commander. Yes, the reward is a bit conservative, but there are alot of castles and there's this pesky thing about game balance, if you would get say 10k / hour from them, the game would just be flooded with extra money, prices would soar and the non-castleowners would be fucked.

2. Good idea, there will be more functionalities for both defender and attacker. Details, details, details. Things come as they come, and as we figure out what is a good idea and what is not. I'm thinking dedicating a portion of income for defence could work.

3. Again, good idea. Not necessarily one we'll implement, but we might. Keep them coming, features will be added with time.

4. Nod, this is a hard one. Finding the proper tune is hard enough with static income, but noted and under consideration.

-Era of idling
Being
Ideas:
1. Income divided between race members currently online, or between members who participated in warfare that boot by either defending or sieging a fortress. This would encourage participating in warfare, and races with fewer members would get bigger shares to ease the balance between high and low membership races. Would also prevent the 'non-castleowners would be fucked' part to some extent.

2. x% of income goes into a plunderable vault similar as with ships(un-withdrawable)? So the longer you hold a fort the tastier a target it becomes.

3. Participating in warfare nets you influence points. People with most influence for their race could negotiate truces, alliances and whatnot. Maybe all decisions would be a vote with say 2 days time. More influence, more votes? If you have a truce or alliance in effect you could not siege some races castle. Alliances would share profits? Warfare demands a social aspect too, and it would be great if the game had some options for that. A vote for how much of income is spent on defense, votes on truces, wars, alliances, breaking truce/alliance. And of course vote for the race diplomat and army general.

4. A way to transfer ownership of a fortress. No sense in giving all the income to other races when they finally conquer the place if you plan on being away from game for a week.


Edit:
5. Merchants could further enhance the defensive strength by reinforcing structures etc. Various other classes probably have suitable abilities to enhance either the defenders or attackers. Reavers destroying water make defenders become thirsty quicker, rain/drying wind. Create food, lots of bardsongs to enhance defender/attacker mood..
Nikana
QUOTE(Era @ Dec 18 2007, 11:48 AM) [snapback]1135[/snapback]
1. Rewards, they accumulate with time. You don't directly get rewarded from just gaining control, the treasury gets slowly filled with time, and you can reap the benefits as long as you remain the commander. Yes, the reward is a bit conservative, but there are alot of castles and there's this pesky thing about game balance, if you would get say 10k / hour from them, the game would just be flooded with extra money, prices would soar and the non-castleowners would be fucked.

-Era of idling



I can easly solo 100k / hour doing money runs and such. It was much better before some items got prices downtuned and VoTK was tuned. Still, making cash is boring as hell and this adds a little flavor to it. Plus, if you aren't a highbie or boony, then you are fucked on doing money runs too! So that excuse about being non-castleowners doesn't hold much water for me. The people with eq/boons/exp will always be able to do whatever they like. I'm not trying to say this is the new cash grind, but I don't think 10k / hour per castle is a bad thing. Plus, something like 25k exp per castle per hour. You would have more people sieging and taking part in regions. As it stands, not many people are trying hard, because it's not worth the time or trouble. I mean, I'm not about to head to Laenor to mess with Shar or Rocker for 500gold an hour. How much moreso is that true for other non-highbie/boony player?

500 gold / hour per castle. Holding 4 castles for 10 hours will get you an amazing 20k gold.


Another way to look at this would be: If the highbies are playing around with regions for cash, then that frees up Drawbridge and other money areas for the lower levels. Just a little food for thought.
Era
QUOTE(Nikana @ Dec 19 2007, 02:29 AM) [snapback]1138[/snapback]
I can easly solo 100k / hour doing money runs and such. It was much better before some items got prices downtuned and VoTK was tuned. Still, making cash is boring as hell and this adds a little flavor to it. Plus, if you aren't a highbie or boony, then you are fucked on doing money runs too! So that excuse about being non-castleowners doesn't hold much water for me. The people with eq/boons/exp will always be able to do whatever they like. I'm not trying to say this is the new cash grind, but I don't think 10k / hour per castle is a bad thing. Plus, something like 25k exp per castle per hour. You would have more people sieging and taking part in regions. As it stands, not many people are trying hard, because it's not worth the time or trouble. I mean, I'm not about to head to Laenor to mess with Shar or Rocker for 500gold an hour. How much moreso is that true for other non-highbie/boony player?

500 gold / hour per castle. Holding 4 castles for 10 hours will get you an amazing 20k gold.
Another way to look at this would be: If the highbies are playing around with regions for cash, then that frees up Drawbridge and other money areas for the lower levels. Just a little food for thought.


Yes, and by choosing optimal 9-man eqparty and doing some particular eqmob in say, 2 hours, you get what, 3m money and eq worth tens of megs. Should the money rate be relative to that TOP party? So assuming the top party manages to each control 10+ castles, holding them all, and gaining 1,5m / hour (lets ignore the tens of megs worth of eq here). So, now game gets 36m / d from castles, or 1G / month.

Now, this is clearly too much. But 100k/hour for 10 castles sounds reasonable, right? Wrong! First, the castles generate money all the time (if uncontested); when offline / idle / doing moneyruns while nobody can keep the maximum money-soloing rate on for ever, it gets too tedious after a couple of hours, like you mentioned. And second, that's still over 24m money in game every day, a hell of a lot of money.

So, long story short, I'm pretty happy about the current rate of income. It might change, but I'm sure we'll monitor this for at least weeks / month(s) to see how it works out. This is ment to be a fun addition to the game, with something new to do, something other than the things you've already done a thousand times, and there is a (small) reward to make it at least somewhat worthwhile. And, it's hopefully not so lucrative that the top highbies would start using it as their sole income, leaving newbies/midbies totally outside.

Finally, there are other bonuses. Exp for one. Something else to do. Possible further additions, possibly including various bonuses, quests, tasks, whatnot, remains to be seen, this is a new territory for Sirdar and me too.

-Era of rambling
Nu
Some ideas:
1) How about a reward for holding your castle longer? Each consecutive day you've held it, income improves by 5% to a maximum of 150%. 18k gold/day (if you've held for 10 days consecutive!) instead of 12k isn't going to break the game and gives me an incentive to defend rather than just empty the treasury and take the castle back later.

2) Have leadership skill play a role in commanding defenses. Quicker recharge time for arrows/cauldrons etc? I don't think a slight uptune to crimson, templar and knight will break the game :)

3) Tie in castle reputation/prowess into race leadership.

Praise:
I like these overall :) Also, I like that sieging seems to be moving away from pkilling a bit so newbies have a chance over the highbies! And that it's moving away from sitting idle for 30 minutes.


That's it for now, maybe more later!

-Nu
Fil
Regions are amazingly fun, and every time i say i'm giving up on them, i just keep coming back.

Suggestions

I know its been mentioned to death, but a real alliance system would rock and I think its already being worked on.

A better reinc system. Maybe have them revert to npc race they start on when commander reincs?
Tim
QUOTE(Nu @ Dec 20 2007, 07:29 PM) [snapback]1141[/snapback]
Some ideas:
1) How about a reward for holding your castle longer? Each consecutive day you've held it, income improves by 5% to a maximum of 150%. 18k gold/day (if you've held for 10 days consecutive!) instead of 12k isn't going to break the game and gives me an incentive to defend rather than just empty the treasury and take the castle back later.

2) Have leadership skill play a role in commanding defenses. Quicker recharge time for arrows/cauldrons etc? I don't think a slight uptune to crimson, templar and knight will break the game :)

3) Tie in castle reputation/prowess into race leadership.

Praise:
I like these overall :) Also, I like that sieging seems to be moving away from pkilling a bit so newbies have a chance over the highbies! And that it's moving away from sitting idle for 30 minutes.
That's it for now, maybe more later!

-Nu


I would like to second Nu's idea regarding the ramping up of rewards. I'm not going to argue about the total size of rewards, but I would like to make an argument for the ramping.

Currently, the rewards are proportional to the number of castles you own. There is advantage to be gained by controlling many castles. However, gaining control of a single castle provides little reward, especially as there is a good chance that the previous owners will want it back.

I don't see anything particularly wrong with this state of affairs. However, I suspect that it may result in all castles being in the hands of just a very small number of races/individuals.

I think that a ramp of rewards might change this situation.

If rewards are only gained by keeping a castle in your control for a certain time, and if any cash rewards ramp up in that time, the focus will shift (slightly) from controlling the largest possible number of castles to making sure that control of individual castles is maintained for as long as possible. Of course, this doesn't directly make defense of a large number any less useful or any more difficult.

However, it does make defense of a large number of castles less rewarding in an indirect way:

* If there are more groups of players who may want to capture castles then there is a good chance that they will be able to choose their moment and, at least temporarily, gain control of a castle.

* If many groups own castles, then there will be some better defended sets of castles and some worse defended.

* If there are more owners, there should be less groups desperate to gain a single castle.

Therefore, based on the assumption that it is actually more difficult to keep control of a large number of castles (in which several groups may be interested at any one time), the best strategy might become the owning of a number of castles that are less likely to be attacked. I.e. if all your main competitors are busy defending their own castles or fighting over some other castles, you would be far more likely not too lose any of your own castles while you sleep (or go on holiday or whatever).

I'm not sure that this is the way to go, but it just seems to me that if players only really get advantages by being able to keep castles for a long period of time, there will be less incentive to simply grab every possible castle, which may provide pretty little advantage unless you really can hang on to them all.

In a sense, I am actually arguing for small rewards. Yes, smaller rewards so that it is just too much trouble to try to gain all the castles (unless there is some special event on the horizon). However, rewards for trying to gain just the one or two castles should not necessarily be small.

Having said all this, I can also see the point in encouraging a few groups (races) to try to control large numbers of castles so that a kind of ruling set of just a few races is created as a preparation for events and other interesting aspects that may come later.

Tim
sirdar
.=================================.
| |
| REGIONS: PLAYER'S HANDBOOK v1.0 |
| by Sirdar Silverfang |
| |
'================================='


0 ..... Overview
1 ..... Castles
2 ..... Forming a domain
3 ..... Garrison ranks
4 ..... Acquiring control of a castle
5 ..... Commands
6 ..... Objectives
7 ..... Joining a player garrison
A ..... Rules of Engagement (RoE)



0. Overview
===========



The regions are a PvP (Player-versus-Player) element in BatMUD,
which pits racial factions in a struggle to control key locations
on the five major continents. The controlling races gain access
to the castles, harvesting them for production of gold and
experience.



1. Castles
==========



Castles are the basic units of the regions play. There are a total
of 102 castles in scattered between the five continents. Each
castle forms a territory called region, by which the landmass of
the BatWorld is shared to their respective landowners. Simply put,
castles are central landmarks for regions, and each contains the
necessary governing personnel over the land contained within that
specific region.

First we will look at what role the castle has over a region.
Basically, the royalty owns the land that is the region. The
peasants settle in on that land, and agree to rent the land from
the region landlord for farming and other production purposes.
Using this land, the peasants then produce goods, and from these
goods they get profit. The aforementioned rent price, combined with
the profit of the peasants forms the base of the tax, which is
collected by the castle officials four times a year, and is stored
into the castle treasury. In addition to the permission to use the
land for a price, the region landlord provides the peasants
protection using his garrison.

1.1. Castle rooms

Each castle consists of four rooms, the yard, entrance, tower and
the office.

1.1.2. The yard

The yard is open for everyone, and you end up there by entering
the scenic location you see on the map. In the yard you see the
castle gates. Also, by looking the plaque in the yard youll see
some basic commands that are available for the visitor. More about
these, and other castle commands later. At the other side of the
gates is the entrance room.

1.1.3. The entrance

The entrance room is from where the caravans head off to other
castles. Any player who is a member of the castle garrison may
travel with these caravans to other castles. From the entrance
room you may go up, or in the office. By going up, you end up into
the observation tower. A castle under siege can be brought under
the leadership of the sieging party from this room.

1.1.4. The observation tower

The observation tower has all functionalities that are needed
during battle, or general observation of the events at the yard.
You can negotiate, fire arrows and oil at the intruders, for
example. You can also use the castle catapult to fend off any
campers at a limited range outside the scenic location of the
castle.

1.1.5. The office

The office is the planning and economy room of the castle. You
have access to the castle treasury (the tax income), and may use
it to your own benefit, to recruit NPC soldiers to the castle
garrison or to buy more ammunition to the defense mechanisms of
the castle. It can also be used for political purposes, such as
changing ownerships, and if the castle is not a region of a larger
country (the capital exists), it can also be used to promote and
demote PCs who have served the castle well.



2. Forming a domain
===================


A domain is a general term for a group of castles unified under
one flag, and ruled from one capital. A domain is like a country
formed of those castles. Without a capital you may have an
individual ranking system in each castle. It means that if you're
a general in castle A, it doesn't apply to castle B. You can also
handle promotions from the each castle office in what comes to the
ranks in each individual castle. A general, however, has the option
to create a domain. By doing this, a region of his choosing will
become the capital of this domain. All functions regarding rank and
position are rerouted to the control of the capital. Further ranks
will come and go only from the capital, and only ranks confirmed by
the capital are valid in the vassal regions. Also, after forming a
domain, if you wish to join the garrison, any castle won't do
anymore - you need to head for the capital and apply to the service
there. This re-enlistment is also necessary when a capital is
defined to an already existing group of castles (which is not a
domain).


3. The castle garrison
======================



Even the most powerful ruler cannot possibly control and keep guard
of all his castles for all the time. Therefore he needs people to
serve under him. Every castle has a garrison, from the ranks of
which youll find people from ordinary troops to officials to take
care of the most important matters at hand. There are 13 ranks, which
are divided into four subcategories. The names of these ranks may vary
according to one's race, but the classification is the same regardless
of one's race, only name differs. The ranks are presented here from the
perspective of a human army.

Remember to always reward your PC members of the garrison accordingly
to keep them happy. It is not wise to instantly promote everyone to
high ranks, since you lose the benefits of the ranking system. The
better you have the hierarchy constructed for your domain, and the
people positioned on it, the better they know their duties, and the
better it will work out for you.

Remember, if you are a commander, do not let out promotions like
candy. That's just amateur. This won't mean that the promotions
should be impossible to acquire either. You may reflect a player's
success in his duty to base these promotions on.


3.1. The senior officer ranks
-----------------------------


3.1.1. General

The General is the leader of a castle. He has access to all castle
functions, and is the only rank that can form a country or give a
castle ownership to someone else. The general is also abbreviated
CO, or the commanding officer. He issues and authorizes all orders
given by his officers.

Other races' equivalents:
Demon: Pit Fiend - Lord of devils, with great strength and
deadly power.

3.1.2. Lt. General

The Lt. General is the immediate right hand man of the general.
Also shortened to XO, or an executive officer, he is in charge of
the region/country when the CO is absent. He has access to every
function of the castle, except that he cannot give castles away or
form countries. Lieutenant means 'aide', so his job, simply put,
is to work as an aide to the general.

Other races' equivalents:
Demon: Ashkult - A humanoid dragon-like demon judge.

3.1.3. Colonel

The colonel is the elder senior officer rank and he may command
anything but the most vital functions of a castle. This is the end
of the road for many, because there usually is only one or two
lt. generals as acting XOs. Colonels are very powerful, and as senior
officers command almost equal amount of authority. The lieutenant
generals, are of course, chosen from the ranks of the colonels so they
are different in only formal sense.

Other races' equivalents:
Demon: Excruciarch - The diabolical insectoid pain demon, the
master torturer and strategist.

3.1.4. Lt. Colonel

The lieutenant colonel is the introductory rank to the senior
officers from the junior officer ranks. The lieutenant means 'aide',
and this rank means that this particular person should work as an aide
to a colonel. Whilst helping the colonel to do his duty, he is learning
to become a full-blooded colonel one day.

Other races' equivalents:
Demon: Dogai - The black-hearted assassin devils and cunning
spies of the hell.


3.2. The junior officer ranks
-----------------------------


3.2.1. Major

The major is the most trusted man of the junior officer ranks. He
tends to the needs of the particular castle, does not take part in
politics as do the senior officers. His main responsibility is to
follow that the orders issued out by the colonel are carried out to
the minute detail.

Other races' equivalents:
Demon: Barbazu - Ferocious demon warriors that frenzy with a
saw-toothed glaive.

3.2.2. Captain

The captain is the leader of the field. When a major issues an order
for a larger unit of troops to operate, a captain is to devise the
necessary plans to carry out this orders. He, on the other hand, issues
these solutions to the lieutenants, who carry them out in the next
link in the chain of command.

Other races' equivalents:
Demon: Malebranche - Hulking, horned warriors, enforcers,
punishers, and mounts of higher ranks.

3.2.3. 1st Lieutenant

The first lieutenant is the second junior officer rank to see
battle (2nd lieutenant being the first). His tasks are to watch
over the troop operation, devise and put into action tactics
that will best carry out the orders issued by the superiors,
the captain or the major.

Other races' equivalent:
Demon: Cornugon - Gargoylelike fiend armed with a spiked chain.

3.2.4. 2nd Lieutenant

The second lieutenant is a preparatory rank for the main
lieutenant rank, the first lieutenant. His tasks are similar to
the 1st Lt. in that they have everything to do with garrison
administration and troop transportation/operation duties.

Other races' equivalent:
Demon: Cornugon - Dinosaurlike guardians with massive maw and a
wicked stinger.


3.3. The non-commissioned officer (NCO) ranks
---------------------------------------------


3.3.1. Sergeant Major

The sergeant major is the field rank with most authority. He is
the true leatherneck. He will carry out the orders of the officers
with years of battles behind his back, and usually with a
stomach-churning efficiency. The main rank is actually a sergeant,
but since some do not fill the requirements for the officer
ranks - this is the last and the most revered position a field
soldier may achieve. These men are charismatic battlefield leaders.

Other races' equivalent:
Demon: Hamatula - The 'barbed demon', the elite infernal warrior
with impaling spikes.

3.3.2. Sergeant

The sergeant is the backbone of the field command. They have
proven exceptional savvy in leadership abilities, and are usually
in charge of a platoon. They are experienced fighters and
inspirational battlefield leaders. In game world terms a sergeant
would be a leader of a 9-man party.

Other races' equivalent:
Demon: Narzugon - Nightmare-riding elite cavalry member.

3.3.3. Corporal

The corporal is a small team leader. He is also the backup man
for the unfortunate happenstance that the sergeant is disabled
during performing his duty. This is the first rank that needs
leadership skills, and very often successful corporals will
eventually become sergeants and be assigned to lead a full-blooded
platoon. In game terms a corporal would be a leader of a 3-man
party. When a sergeant is present, the corporal is to help the
sergeant in performing his duty.

Other races' equivalent:
Demon: Merregon - The legion demons - formidable warriors with
shield and spears.


3.4. The enlisted troops
------------------------


3.4.1. Private

The privates are the backbone of a field army. They are a part
of a squadron and are expected to carry out orders, nothing more.
They receive harsh training to provide better chances of survival
on the battlefield. Without privates, there cannot be an army.

Other races' equivalent:
Demon: Orthon - Foot soldiers of Hell's armies.

3.4.2. Recruit

Recruits have just entered the service of the garrison. Nothing
special is expected from them, and their access to castle functions
is extremely limited. They are to undergo training and learn the ways
of the regions. Once they have learned those ways, they are usually
promoted to privates.

Other races' equivalent:
Demon: Lemure - Mindless, tormented creature that attacks in mobs.
Cannon fodder.



4. Acquiring control of a castle
================================



A commandership of a castle is acquired through a process called
sieging. Sieging is a process to weaken the castle by forced
attrition. During a siege, the castle is surrounded by the
attacker's army so that no-one can get in or out. In the real
world, sieging could hold on for months. And since a castle has
it's own demands of upkeep (food, supplies), this attrition will
eventually force the castle to act or perish. During a siege, the
castle under attack cannot hire or fire garrison personnel, nor use
their treasury to emergency relocate their funds.

A siege can be started from the castle yard. Once started, the
attacking team has 45 minutes to breach through the castle gates
using the ram. If the 45 minutes pass, and the gates are intact,
the siege is thwarted. During this 45 minutes of time, the castle
garrison will try to resist this from happening in the form of NPC
and PC representatives. If they can delay your ramming process
enough, you will fail as the timer runs out. So you need to stay
close to the ram for the duration of the siege. The gates themselves
are VERY durable, so you need to use the ram almost constantly for
the duration of the siege. It is told, that you need to use the
ram approximately 2-3 times in a minute for a duration of 30 minutes
to breach through.

If you survive the countermeasures, and if you can breach the gate
within the time limit, you will gain access to the castle entrance.
In the castle entrance, you will find a command 'claim'. By typing
this command in the enemy castle, the castle will become yours, and
you are the new ruler of that region.

Don't for a second think that sieging a castle is something you can
solo randomly. They have all forms of nasty defenses, plus automated
guards. It takes a considerable planning and friend to take down a
castle. It is definitely not a solo act. The guards are definitely
a force to be reckoned with. Once a castle has been conquered, it
is significantly easier to defend it from the future opportunists.
It is said that experienced 3 man parties are efficient enough in
wearing down castle defenses, given that there is no player
defending it at that moment.



5. Commands
===========


5.1. General commands
---------------------


General commands function in all castle rooms.

5.1.1. Command 'census'

This will show you the personnel record of your castle.
This command, regardless of being 'general', does not function
at the castle yard. This is because this information may be very
useful for the enemy to plot his actions. There is also a
possibility that the enemy may choose to hire a spy from the
garrison ranks to snuff out this information. This is not illegal,
but the castle lord should have been more careful in his picking.

5.1.2. Command 'conquest'

This will track your success in the objectives mentioned
in the chapter 6 of this document.

5.1.3. Command 'resign'

You may resign from the garrison by using this command.
Your rank and position will be revoked, and you will be
a free man.

5.1.4. Command 'roster'

Roster will give you information about the ongoings of
the castles in the game. You will see which castles are
under your race's command, and who is commanding them. You
will however not see the commander of castles that do not
belong to your race.

5.1.5. Command 'ranks'

Also this command, despite its general level, works inside
the castle but not from the yard. This will show you the
rank hierarchy of your race.


5.2. The yard
-------------


These commands mainly work from the castle yard.

5.2.1. Command 'siege'

Using this command, one may initiate sieges on the castles.

5.2.1.1. Parameter 'start'

This command will initiate the siege process. The 45 minute
timer is set and started, and the siege engine (the
battering rams etc.) will appear on the yard for you to use
against the gate.

5.2.1.2. Parameter 'stop'

If you wish to give up your siege, you may use this command.

5.2.1.3. Parameter 'time'

You may check the time you have left to breach the gates.

5.2.2. Command 'enter'

If you belong to the castle garrison, or you have breached the
gates through siege, you may enter the castle by using this
command.

5.2.4. Command 'yell'

You might want to communicate with a PC who is manning the
observation tower. By this command, the observation tower will
hear your words.

5.2.5. Command 'application'

If you wish to join the castle garrison, you send an application
to the commander of the castle, who will receive a notice of this.
To ensure his attention, it is generally a good idea to give him
a tell or an email to discuss about the terms of your service.
Based on these discussions, or whatever measures the commander
has for new recruits, the commander may then accept or reject
your application into the garrison. If you cannot get into the
garrison of one lord, remember that there are as many garrisons
as there are lords.

If you are trying to join the garrison of a domain, you will need
to head for the capital to join.


5.3. The entrance
-----------------


These commands work from the castle entrance.

5.3.1. Command 'claim'

If you have successfully sieged the castle and breached the
gate, you need to enter the castle and issue this command in the
entrance room. By doing this, the castle will become yours to command.

5.3.2. Command 'routes'

This command will show you into which other castles you have
caravan routes. The caravan routes are a method of fast travel
between the castles your race owns. Any garrison member may also
use the caravan.

5.3.3. Command 'caravan'

Using this command you'll choose a destination of your travel
from the list presented in the routes. A trip with the caravan
costs you a nominal fee in gold.

5.3.4. Command 'leave'

Leave outside the castle using the main entrance.
Use like a normal exit.

5.3.5. Command 'office'

Enter the castle office. You need to be of at least junior
officer rank for this.


5.4. The observation tower
--------------------------


5.4.1. Command 'view'

Take a look at the castle surroundings. The observation towers
are tall and you can see far from them.

5.4.2. Command 'observe'

Observe the nearby surroundings in more detail - for example,
spot camps, people and monsters moving around your region in
general.

5.4.3. Command 'siegetime'

See how long the enemy has until his siege is thwarted.

5.4.4. Command 'yard'

Take a look at the castle yard to see your friends' and
enemies' identity and condition.

5.4.5. Command 'yell'

You may yell orders or communicate to the front yard using
this command.

5.4.6. Command 'archers'

If you have arrow volleys in your manifest, you may command the
archers to fire these volleys to the yard. These volleys cause
considerable damage to everyone outside. Therefore it is not wise
to fire them if you have friendlies out.

5.4.7. Command 'cauldrons'

If you have oil cauldrons in your manifest, you may pour boiling
oil on your enemies. This is very painful, and causes immediate damage
to the attackers.

5.4.8. Command 'catapult'

Using this command you may operate the castle catapult. You may
fire outside the scenic location, for a limited range. Note that
you can also aim at the people ON the scenic location.

5.4.9. Command 'deploy'

This command will place your garrison in the state of readiness
and in the immediate command of your Lord High Constable to use
his judgment to deploy your troops to the field in the case of
an emergency.

5.4.10. Command 'alert'

This command will raise your garrison's state of readiness. If
the garrison is ready for action, it takes more salary but can
respond to threats almost immediately. If required to respond from
state of lesser readiness, fielding troops will take more time -
and less money.

5.4.11. Command 'battleorder'

This command will instruct the Lord High Constable - the one who
fields the castle garrison in the times of need - to either send
the NCOs (the non-commissioned officers) or the enlisted to the
battlefield first. The NCOs are more powerful but cost more to
lose, the enlisted troops are less powerful but cost less to lose.


5.5. The office
---------------


5.5.1. Command 'treasury'

See the contents of the castle treasury.

5.5.2. Command 'withdraw'

Withdraw gold from the castle treasury. This is restricted to the
general and lt. general ranks only.

5.5.3. Command 'manifest'

See the ammunition status to the castle defensive mechanisms.

5.5.4. Command 'buy'

Buy ammunition to the castle defense mechanisms.
Arrows, oil or stones.

5.5.5. Command 'deposit'

Deposit gold to the castle treasury. Gold is always welcome,
so this command is not too restricted from use.

5.5.6. Command 'setowner'

This will change the ownership of the castle to the select player.
It will cost a nominal amount of gold to swim through the
necessary bureaucracy and paperwork.

5.5.7. Command 'hire'

Hire NPC soldiers to your castle garrison. They will try to deter
anyone trying to siege your castle if you are absent AND if they
are deployed.

5.5.8. Command 'fire'

Fire NPC soldiers from your castle garrison. NPC soldiers require
salary, and if the treasury looks bad, it might be necessary to
fire people.

5.5.9. Command 'deploy'

This command will place your garrison in the state of readiness
and in the immediate command of your Lord High Constable to use his
judgment to deploy your troops to the field in the case of an
emergency.

5.5.10. Command 'garrison'

View the NPC guards you have serving this particular castle,
and their salaries.

5.5.11. Command 'alert'

This command will raise your garrison's state of readiness.
If the garrison is ready for action, it takes more salary but
can respond to threats almost immediately. If required to respond
from state of lesser readiness, fielding troops will take more time
and less money.

5.5.12. Command 'battleorder'

This command will instruct the Lord High Constable - the one
who fields the castle garrison in the times of need - to either
send the NCOs (the non-commissioned officers) or the enlisted to
the battlefield first. The NCOs are more powerful but cost more to
lose, the enlisted troops are less powerful but cost less to lose.

5.5.13. Command 'savegarrison'

This will save the current situation of your garrison for the
unlikely event of game crash or similar emergency.

5.5.14. Command 'applicants'

This command will show the players who have applied to join your
garrison. You may then use 'accept' or 'reject' command at your
own discretion.

5.5.13. Command 'accept'

This command will enlist an applicant from the applicant list
to an active member of the castle garrison at the rank of a recruit.

5.5.14. Command 'reject'

This command will reject an applicant from the applicant list from
becoming an active member of the castle garrison.

5.5.15. Command 'promote'

This command will further the career of the given player by one
step further. Use this command with great care and
pre-determination.

5.5.16. Command 'demote'

This command will demote the select player by one rank. Be
warned though - because the players don't get real life salary
from the regions, they might be real picky about continuing under
your command. This command, if not used as a tool for setting
hierarchy, will seriously affect the target player's morale to
stay with you.

5.5.17. Command 'position'

This command is a open-ended method for the castle commander to
let people know where they should be, and what they should be
doing there. For example, it is a good conduct to clearly state
for each member of your garrison at least his command post. This
command takes any string you want to set visible in the census.

5.5.18. Command 'discharge'

If there is need to fire a PC from your garrison, you may do it
via the discharge command. PCs can however resign by themselves
if they so wish.

5.5.19. Command 'capital'

Using this command, you will center your domain at this
particular castle. All ranks and positions are rerouted to this
castle, and will be disabled from other regions.



6. Objectives
=============



There are five different objectives you may achieve from the regions
play. First is to have fun by waging war with your friends against
other players. The ultimate objective is to rule all the 102 castles
of each continents. It is only a few select individuals who command
the sufficient battle prowess, leadership, diplomatic and political
savvy to achieve this. There are truly not many who can achieve
this, and certainly not solo.

You will also get awards for obtaining control of all the castles
of a given continent.



7. Joining a player garrison
============================



The process is fairly simple: Go to the castle yard of a castle
of someone whose garrison you would wish to join and type
'application send'. If he has formed his regions as a domain, you
will be informed that you need to apply in the capital, and what
particular castle the capital of this domain is. Find that castle
from the map, go there, and try again. Remember, that the
acceptance is not automatic, but it takes the castle commander
online to either accept or reject your application. So to speed
things up, you might want to give him a tell or mail in which you
present yourself, why you want to join the garrison, in what fields
of expertise you excel, and a few words about your activity hours.



A. Rules of engagement (RoE) for regions
========================================



Each continent has several regional headquarters of the races of
BatMUD known as castles, scattered over the landscape. Most are
located near the important sites of these races. As you find a
castle, you might want to siege it to yourself, for gold and glory.
However, some moral guidelines have to be drawn to ensure mutual
understanding of the process of war. These rules are not carved
in stone nor _heavily_ enforced by the wizardhood (but to some
degree, yes they are) - but the responsibility to conform to the
RoE is mostly in the hands of the regional landlords to enforce.

The one who breaks these rules during the region play is to be
freely condemned ethically by all civilized region landlords.

§1 Don't mix regions with non-regions gameplay
The most important rule of thumb first. After the siege, and
whether the attacker fails to intrude your tower or not, the
event regarding regions gameplay is over and you enter within
the boundaries of general player killing rules (help player
killing). Feel free to shout insults afterwards or try conquering
his castle but that's about it. It is unsportsmanlike to ruin
someone's play because he was or was not better than you in regions.

§2 Repelling your attackers
Feel free to kill the one (and his aides) who attacks your or
your friend's castles within the context of the sieging process.
Please limit the killing to the time boundary that is set by the
siege attempt, which is 45 minutes. Do not kill before that time,
or after that time.

§3 Permanently damaging the attacker
It is rude to cause permanent injury to the attacker. Use moral
moderation in choosing your methods of repelling attackers and
prepare for same counterattacks - remember that hell calls hell.
Keep in mind that there is a sword that slays and the sword that
spares life, and a ruler can be judged based on that. Try not to
stir up too much trouble to others with the regions play.

§3 Allies in defending or conquering
Feel free to do regions with people. Gather parties to fight so
you could do better. After all, conquering a castle is harder than
defending it once conquered. This is war and numbers count, feel
free to conquer all the towers, alone or with horde of allies.
After all, everyone needs allies. It's very hard to ensure constant
bulletproof protection of your castle.

One word for the allies - as you help the one who's attending a
siege you will place yourself as a target for defender's
countermeasures for those 45 minutes - the one who plays does not
cower.

§4 Commanding several castles
Again, it's favourable to have as many towers you are able to
conquer. However, it is unsportsmanlike to threaten to ruin one's
non-regions game if you cannot maintain them all.

§5 Completing the Conquer quests
You are NOT to swindle ownerships of the castles so, that more
than one person will benefit from completing the quest at the
'same price.' These quests are to be made by each person individually.
You may however help someone do this quest, that at the end you will
transfer the ownership of your castles to him. Again, thenafter it
is illegal for him to transfer all the castles to you so that you can
also get the quest.


See also:

help player killing

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