Factions and how to prevent abuse

[Steve Kort]

Each faction must have at least one fixed enemy Big Box factions may have 2 or 3.

Everyone has a main clan that pending its faction will eliminate the ability for that player to have cousin clans that are in the Main clans enemy faction list.  Further your first cousin clan would also eliminate additional factions, this would continue with each clan.  This way no player would have a clan in a faction that is an enemy of any other clan they run.

[DreamWeaver]

Thus say you decided to run an Imperial clan and decided to choose your main focus faction as Imperial. That would mean you couldn't have a Barbarian or Boda cousin clans. Those are both enemies of the Imperials and should eliminate both the Barbarian and Boda faction as a option for any cousin clan to be within.

I would hope there is some in-game consequences for such situations.

[Davin]

Everyone has a main clan that pending its faction will eliminate the ability for that player to have cousin clans that are in the Main clans enemy faction list.  Further your first cousin clan would also eliminate additional factions, this would continue with each clan.  This way no player would have a clan in a faction that is an enemy of any other clan they run.

I like that idea, for starters.  Perhaps we can begin by saying that no clan can rise above rank 18 if they have any cousins in any enemy faction.  Also, cousins in different factions of any sort may only have one faction with clans above rank 15, thus becoming their primary faction.  It may also be necessary to limit multiple very-high-ranking clans in their primary faction, too, but let's think on that.

What do you think about that concept?

[Davin]

Each faction must have at least one fixed enemy Big Box factions may have 2 or 3.

I agree.  And I don't want to include currently-NPC factions in our list of enemies/allies.  I'd like to see at least one playing "enemy" and one "ally" for each faction.  These do not have to be reciprocal either, and it would be nice if there were some inbuilt tensions there, such as being friends with someone who's also friends with someone you don't particularly like (or might even have on your "enemy" list).  I'd like to be able to draw an enemy/ally chart between all the factions and see lines to and from everywhere.

"Enemies" don't have to be all-out warfare on encounter (in all cases), but they should at least refuse to associate with one another under normal circumstances and have significant disagreements in their outlooks (which could lead to harassing, name-calling, fist fights, etc.) when in close personal proximity in cities.

"Allies" don't mean unconditional friends, but other factions with whom they tend to cooperate or work well with, in general.  You might like to give them better deals on trades/tasks, for instance, or engage in communal movement or activities.  Perhaps "preferred associate" would be more meaningful?

What could we do to update our designs along these lines?

[DreamWeaver]

FACTION Name:          ENEMIES:              ALLIES:

Imperal                        Boda, Roder            Getham
Boda                            Imperial                  Roder, Ring
Getham                                                      Gift
Roder                           Imperial                  Boda, Banner
Banner                                                       Roder
Gift                                                            Getham
Ring                                                           Boda

[Davin]

Not a bad start, though I wouldn't mind seeing more of the spaces filled in, perhaps with less antagonistic (but still not friendly) relationships. Inter-faction competition might provide some ideas here, too.

[DreamWeaver]

Well if you had other factions in play like: Barbarian, Bandits, Pirates and Heretics (or B & F, Cult) to fill in the blanks

[Davin]

True, but I don't want the factions to be there simply to provide enemies.  And there needs to be enough players to support adding more factions.  Surely there's a way to work in competition/disagreements between the factions of some sort.  The religions could have faith-based disagreements and the families could argue with one another without turning into the Hatfields and McCoys.  Surely we've got some imaginative players that can come up with something.

If every faction doesn't have both pros and cons, and a good mix of friends and enemies, then game balance will suffer as clans flock to the more powerful or most likeable factions.

[DreamWeaver]

Well I view these factions that are all Boogiemen like the: Barbarians, Bandits, Pirates to mention a few would make simple NPC bad guys.

[Davin]

I'd assume that they're all the enemies of all players, so they don't make for very good factional divisions.