The plans for V0.4 (Patreon)

Greetings Conquerors,

Now that V0.3.9 is out, V0.3 is right around where I want it to be for now. Therefore, it is time to discuss the plans for V0.4!

Where V0.2 focused primarily on the administrative aspects of ruling a faction and V0.3 focused more on the military aspects what does that leave for V0.4? Diplomacy!

Peaceful Conquest!

The main idea behind this update is to be able to conquer without all of the battles that you've gotten used to. This includes things such as uniting the citizens of a city behind you to overthrow a Jarl, political marriages that put you in a position to inherit the throne in case your spouse were to meet their unfortunate end, an espionage system that allows you to set up spy networks in cities to enact your nefarious deeds, offering existing Jarls the chance to join your faction peacefully, more diplomacy options with other factions such as alliances or joining the currently existing factions, and more!

Loyalty Reworked

This update will include a reworking of the Loyalty system. 

When you don't rule a city, there will be two types of loyalty in that city: The citizen's loyalty towards the current Jarl and their loyalty towards you. If Loyalty towards the current Jarl is high while Loyalty towards you is low, your chances of uniting the people to help you acquire the throne is extremely low, and you'll need to have an alternative way of getting there. On the other hand, if their loyalty towards you is high while loyalty towards the current Jarl is low, you are in a very good position to stage a coup to attempt to take the Throne with the people standing at your back!

When you DO rule the city, the two types of loyalty will be almost the same. You will still need to worry about the citizens' loyalty towards you. However, instead of their loyalty towards the current Jarl, you will need to worry about the current Jarl's(that you appointed) loyalty towards you. This means that the Jarl you appoint will have an ever changing opinion on you depending on how you treat them. These two types of loyalties pave the way for my plans to bring back the Rebellion system.

Since there are two loyalties, there will be two types of Rebellions. If loyalty of the citizens is too low, you will have an angry mob on your hands. These are large but ill-equipped rebellions that only try to take the city they are in. On the other hand, if loyalty with your Jarl is too low, you will have a true Rebellion on your hands, which the Jarl you appointed will create a new faction and attempt to declare their independence from you taking their city with them. These are smaller but more-well equipped. This will start a war between your two factions and they will have the ability to attack your other holdings as well. However, if only the Jarl has low loyalty while the citizens remain high, then this rebellion will be small and easier to put down. If both loyalties are low, the true Rebellion that your Jarl starts will now have a lot more troops and will be much harder to put down.

I'll go more into depth about what you can do to affect these loyalties in a future post.

Faction Diplomacy

After you conquer that city peacefully, keep in mind you are still in the middle of a Civil War with two sides wanting every city they can get their hands on (and even if the war is over the winning side won't just let you take one of their cities just like that). Therefore, both Tullius and Ulfric (if they're alive) will send you messages offering you the chance to keep your throne in exchange for joining their faction. If you reject the faction that previously owned the city, they will declare war on you. 

However, if you do join the faction there will be certain restrictions that you'll need to agree to including disbanding your army, being forced to declare war on the opposing faction and making an oath to the Emperor/Ulfric. These restrictions are negotiable. Additionally, if the Civil War is still going on, then the two factions will now make moves on each other and you'll have the opportunity to join battles fighting for the Imperials or Stormcloaks. 

I'll go more into depth about all of this in a future post.

Espionage

One of the main features of this update is to include an espionage system. This comes in the form of recruiting a new government position known as the "Spymaster". With enough gold, the Spymaster can set up spy networks in any city, allowing you to get information on that city such as the loyalties of the citizens towards the Jarl and you. You can also use the spy network to affect those loyalties such as through the use of paying public speakers to give negative speeches about the Jarl or positive speeches about you. Additionally, you can use the spy network to start a coup in the city and attempt to take the city with the people at your back.

Causes (Idea from Simdrew)

What exactly are you fighting for? Why should people want to support your bid for the Jarl of a city or to become the new High King? That is where causes come into play. Upon starting your faction you will be prompted to give your stance on issues such as Talos worship, Skyrim independence, Fighting for a specific deity or race, and more. You can also have no opinion on any of these issues as well if politics aren't you characters thing.

Sponsors

One more feature this update will include is that of sponsors for your faction! Sponsors are citizens in Skyrim that have access to gold/resources that could potentially be provided to your faction, with some persuasion. Potential sponsors include rich citizens such as Olfrid Battle-Born or Torbjorn Shatter-Shield. 

Now you may be asking: How do I persuade these sponsors to give me their gold or resources? Plenty of ways! You could offer them a political marriage/betrothal between you/your children and them or one of the members of their family. You could offer them a position in government such as making them the Jarl or simply a Thane of the city. Or they could quite simply just support your cause.

Once they've agreed to support you, your faction will then receive more gold or resources per day.

Anyway that's basically the gist of what V0.4 is going to be about. There are still more specific details to include but I wanted to let you all know the general idea behind it. Thank you all for supporting me for all this time!