Glorious wiki readers. We appreciate your patience as we process the vast amount of new and updated information from the release of Alpha-2 phase 1.

Expedition

Ashes of Creation community empowered Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Alpha-1 node at expedition stage.[1]

An expedition (also referred to as Crossroads[2]) is the first stage of node advancement.[3]

When a Node becomes an Expedition, a small group of NPCs and their compatriots will show up. The Development Area feels temporary at this level, reflective of what a group of people would carry with them - tents, campfires, etc.[4] – Margaret Krohn

Merchants

Alpha-2 Vendor NPC work-in-progress UI.[5]

Merchant NPCs (also called Vendors) are present from the first stage of node development (Expedition).[6]

  • Merchant NPCs are identified by a golden shimmer on their nameplates.[7]
  • Merchant NPCs will in general be able to buy items from players.[8]

Node advancement

Alpha-2 node leveling countdown.[9]

Experience gained by each node counts toward that node's advancement (progression) to a higher node stage.[4][10] Node advancement unlocks unique content, and locks out an increasing ring of neighboring nodes from progressing to the next stage.[11]

  • Nodes advance to the first stage quickly. This enables NPC services such as vending or banking items.[12]
  • The more advanced the node is, the larger its ZOI becomes.[3]
  • Certain quests, such as story arcs, may not be able to be turned in after a node has advanced.[15]
  • The territory expansion algorithm takes into account the nearest coast, neighboring nodes, and the heatmap of players in surrounding areas over the last weeks or month.[16]
    • Due to the way the progression algorithm calculates territorial (ZOI) expansion during node advancement, there is a small possibility that two nodes of the same stage end up being close to each other.[17]
The way that the algorithm expands the territories takes into account a few things: One it takes into account the coast like where's the closest coast. Two it takes into account the neighboring nodes so it can take over and essentially vassal state those nodes, but what's more important is essentially the initial population based on like how players choose their races. Because we have nine different races and four different starting points that branch out, each server's population density is going to dictate essentially the first few nodes that are highly populated and then that initial seed is what's going to determine the node structure as it moves inland into the into the world essentially; and based on the performance and successes of different sieges will determine which nodes that got locked out from the previous the initial advancements what nodes can now be available to advance further. So I really think that with so many variables that are present in the equation of how nodes advance and stay existing with the more variables you have, the higher likelihood there is for there to be a significant diversion in world progression.[16] – Steven Sharif
Normally the algorithm that's applied to the node territorial expansion will prevent significant nodes from being in close proximity to each other... There could be a perfect storm where all of the algorithmic progression of territory leads to having these nodes very close to each other because there's certain requirements that should that need to be available to satisfy node vassal takeovers; and it's possible that two nodes would never take each other over as vassals and end up close together and spanning their territories in opposite directions: The Tale of Two Cities thing.[17] – Steven Sharif
  • Citizens of one node can contribute to the advancement of other nodes.[18]
  • The exact percentage of advancement from obtaining items or killing monsters is not going to be explicitly known to avoid "gaming" the system.[19]
Different people have different resources invested in nodes progressing and it would be a little "gamey" if you could know exactly what was necessary at that point because that would disincentivize people from participating.[19] – Steven Sharif
  • Node advancement spawns a series of animations and visual effects (within the footprint of the node).[20][4]
    • Players within the node are teleported to a safe location, likely a respawn area near the node.[20][21]
    • Supplies will spawn around the node and system driven caravans are spawned to bring these supplies into the node. These caravans are not able to be attacked.[20]
    • NPCs will begin construction activities.[20]
    • Players outside the node will see the new facade of the node pop into existence as the node advances in stage.[20]
The Development Area of a Node is where civilization will appear as the Node advances. As the Node Stage increases, different buildings, NPCs, and services will become available in the Development Area. The higher the Node Stage, the more complex and populated the Development Area becomes. Development Areas will also vary depending on the Node Type - Economic, Military, Scientific, or Divine.[4] – Margaret Krohn

Vassal nodes

Vassal node structure.[22]

This vassal mode structure tells you what it looks like for a sovereign at a level six metropolis stage; and what it can control at a maximum vassal network is two level five nodes, of which a level five node can control one level four and one level three as direct vassals; and then the four can control a three; and every three can control a one or a two. Now if the three gets removed through siege, the one or the two is removed as well. So that's an important distinction between the three's vassals, which technically isn't really a vassal relationship because there's no citizenships possible. Those vassals don't exist between three and X, but they do exist between four and three, five and four, and six and five. And what this also allows is that because there are 85 nodes that are within the world, we have a buffer zone of about 20 nodes that lives in a max server state. So if you had maximum five metropolises form in a world, you will have a number about 20 nodes that can live alongside those metropolis networks; and when or if a metropolis falls, that extra cushion of nodes around the five metropolis structures allows for the map to be redistricted in a way that is unique. It doesn't mean that one of the fives is just going to pick up where the last six left off and form the same exact metropolis structure. From a territory perspective it has ancillary nodes to play with and expand towards that redistricts the map, so that if a metropolis falls there's a significant difference in the layout of the world and the layout of these almost nation-like territories.[22] – Steven Sharif

Village (stage 3) or higher nodes enslave nearby nodes, converting them into vassal nodes.[6][14]

There is a layer of intricacy between how the neighboring nodes advance and what potential parent structure they have in the vassalship tree.[23] – Steven Sharif
It is not a bad thing to be vasseled, it is a good thing to be vasseled. It brings many benefits from the Sovereign, which is the ultimate parent of that vassal network down to the vassal node itself; and it allows that vassal node to even live outside of its normal mechanics. You get to adopt some of the benefits that the node type of your sovereign is, even if your node type as a vassal node isn't the same.[25] – Steven Sharif
  • Nodes do not receive experience from their vassals until the vassals have reached their cap.[4][28]
    • Vassal nodes first apply any experience (from themselves or their own vassals) to their own atrophy deficit. Any excess experience beyond the cap is then applied to their parent node.[4][27][6]
  • Regent nodes collect taxes from their vassal nodes. These taxes cannot be taken by the mayor or other players.[27]
Q: During phase two testing you are hoping to test vassals. Would you be open to test the game implications of vassal sieging their parent node?
A: I don't think that that's something we necessarily need to test at this stage. I think what we what in testing the vassaling system- what we are getting feedback on is: what is the relationship between the parent node and the vassal node, and the benefits that they provide the citizens of each, and how is that looked upon by the player base through this testing. Is it being looked at as a negative relationship, and if so then probably we need to talk about the intent: what is the intent? The intent is that it should be reflected upon positively, so then how do we start tuning the knobs and levers in order to make that relationship feel better for the players. So that's where we would start, is if we get negative feedback from that relationship of the parent to vassal node then we would start by tuning the levers and the knobs around how to increase the benefit for that reciprocal relationship between those two, before we thought about, 'oh okay well players don't seem to like being vassals of a parent node, let's just let them kill the parent node', because that has much wider architectural design concerns; and we wouldn't go to that step unless we just come to some determination that like, no matter what knob and lever we turn, players just don't like being a vassal. Okay then, let's talk about how players can stop being a citizen of one node and go become the citizen of another node if it's just not their cup of tea to be a vassal citizen, regardless of the benefits that we offer.[30] – Steven Sharif
  • Citizens of vassals are bound by the diplomatic states of the parent node.[6]
If a Node is a Vassal Node and is capped from advancing further, it first applies any experience earned to its own deficit (see Node Atrophy section), and then applies excess experience earned to its Parent Node. If the Parent Node advances and the Vassal is able to grow, it becomes uncapped. If a Node is capped and is both a Vassal and has its own Vassals, any experience earned from itself or its Vassals is first applied to their own deficit. Any experience beyond that is then sent to its Parent Node.[4] – Margaret Krohn

Node layout and style

Racial architecture of the same Village (stage 3) node on different server realms. Dünir Dwarven influence (top). Kaelar Human influence (bottom). Alpha-1 Non-NDA screenshot.

The layout and architecture within a Node’s development area are determined by influential race. For example, a stage 3 Node with the majority of player contribution being Py'rai would have a Py'rai village with Py'rai architecture. Most NPCs would be Py'rai elves, and offer questlines within the Py'rai narrative.[6] – Margaret Krohn

Each player’s contributed experience is flagged with their character race and other identifiers. When a Node advances, the race with the highest experience contribution determines the Node’s style and culture. This style and culture change can happen at every Node Stage. For example, if a Node advances to Level 2 - Encampment Stage and 51% of all experience was earned by Ren’Kai players, the Node will be a Level 2 Ren’Kai Node. If that same Node advances to a Level 3 - Village Stage Node, but the Py'Rai contributed 62% of all the experience earned, then the Node will be a Level 3 Py'Rai Node.[4] – Margaret Krohn

Node layout and style is determined by several factors:[31][32]

The way that the node system is built is that they can exist across a spread of 18 biomes, but at the same time have to represent the cultural influence of these cultures that are intrinsically a part of a specific biome.[33] – Steven Sharif
Some parts are determined by the area it's in. Some parts are determined by the type it is. Some parts are determined by the race it is; and then the rest of it is determined by the mayor.[32] – Jeffrey Bard
All nodes, whether they're associated with a castle or associated with normal node structure, has cultural influences that replicate over to the buildings that are produced and the NPCs that are present.[42] – Steven Sharif
  • The rest is determined by the node's mayor.[32]
    • It should be possible for a node to complete several building projects within a mayor's one month term in office.[43]
Q: How long would you say it will take players on average to fill/build up a node completely from wilderness to metropolis?
A: It's one thing to get a node to a certain level: it's another thing to develop the node; and I can't really give you an on-average expectation, because there's a lot of variables at play. There's how many citizens does the node have attracted to it; what's the type of traffic that the node is attracting to it based on things like its tax rates, or the specialization that it chose to spec into, based on the building types it's chosen to build. All of those things are variables that can affect the quote-unquote "average build-out time" of a particular node. So it's difficult to give you an average when there's so many variables along those lines. But the idea is that if there is a particular project that players are interested in in developing based on the node stage, that they would have the ability to complete several of those projects as within a single term of a mayor; and a term of a mayor is one month.[43] – Steven Sharif

Racial influences

Alpha-1 Village node layout.[44]

We have essentially sets that exist across all races; and each race that dons those armor sets is going to have their own racial influence on the presentation of those particular sets. So that's something that's unique in how each of the races get diversified. Additionally, the more that one particular race contributes to a node's development, it's going to manifest in that particular node's architectural influences. You're going to see the architectures of those races become manifest within the nodes as well: That's another way that we diversify each race and we present each race's culture in the game as through those architectures, through those props that exist, through the tailoring of the armor sets that the NPC might wear, to the different factions that exist. Factions will have their own affiliation with different races as well. Each race will also have some different nomenclature when it comes to the lore, or comes to locations in the world. They're going to have their own language influences as well: The way they speak is something that's going to be distinct between races; when you have dialogue trees with particular NPCs. So all of those things really go into setting an immersive world where the cultures have their own identity.[37] – Steven Sharif

Cultural influences manifest in many ways, from node and gear aesthetics to NPC languages and lore.[36][37][45][4]

The cultural influence over a node serves as one of our types of predicates. So when we talk about dynamic content, when we talk about world spawners changing based off of these things, like narrative structures changing based off of that story arcs changing based off of that: Those all get informed by this predicate of cultural influence. Cultural influence is determined by racial contribution toward node development... Racial progression still serves as a very important piece of the predicate system, which influences our narrative structures.[36] – Steven Sharif
There is an attrition and that attrition on experience and influence is heightened based on the performance of the race in the world. So if all these nodes are Orc nodes then their attrition rate is very high to compete with the cultural establishment of new nodes because they have more influence in the world and a popular opinion is against them in their outlying regions that they do not have influence in.[46] – Steven Sharif

NPC racial interaction

Depending on the cultural influence of the node activates certain types of quest lines and/or sponsors. Some of those are shared, some of those are general. Some of those relate to a progression path that is a first time user experience. Those will be constant across all culture types. Some of them, however, are predicates that spawn when certain story arcs and/or events, or commissions or buy orders become present within the node; and those might change based on the cultural influence of the node. So there is a separation between those populations.[48] – Steven Sharif

Monster coin events

Legion monster coin events are common events that occur for Nodes up to the Village stage. This might include a horde of zombies rolling across the countryside finding something or someone to feast on. Players who wish to keep their advancements will need to be vigilant.[49]

Visuals

  • 2021-07-30
  • 2020-03-28
  • 2020-03-28
  • 2020-03-28
  • 2020-03-28
  • 2020-03-28
  • 2020-03-28
  • 2020-03-28
  • 2020-03-28
  • 2017-10-18

See also

References

  1. ↑ Livestream, March 28, 2020 (50:57).
  2. ↑ Livestream, December 12, 2018 (14:48).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Node series part II – the Metropolis.
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 Blog - Know Your Nodes - Advance and Destroy.
  5. ↑ Video, August 31, 2023 (25:00).
  6. ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 Blog - Know Your Nodes - The Basics.
  7. ↑ Video, May 31, 2020 (5:25).
  8. ↑ Livestream, January 29, 2021 (1:11:29).
  9. ↑ Video, February 29, 2024 (33:57).
  10. ↑ A reactive world - Nodes.
  11. ↑ Video, April 20, 2017 (0:02).
  12. ↑ Npc vending.jpg
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 steven-quote-neighboring-nodes.png
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 jahlon-steven-vassal-nodes-quote.png
  15. ↑ Livestream, February 29, 2024 (53:58).
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Interview, July 18, 2020 (10:04).
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Interview, July 8, 2020 (1:00:15).
  18. ↑ node xp.png
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Livestream, May 26, 2017 (28:16).
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 Livestream, October 14, 2022 (55:13).
  21. ↑ Livestream, November 17, 2017 (55:27).
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Livestream, August 26, 2022 (1:07:34).
  23. ↑ steven-vassals.png
  24. ↑ Livestream, August 31, 2023 (52:56).
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Livestream, August 26, 2022 (1:04:35).
  26. ↑ Podcast, October 12, 2024 (19:59).
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Livestream, August 26, 2022 (1:10:16).
  28. ↑ Livestream, October 16, 2017 (50:20).
  29. ↑ steven-stream-clarifications-august-2022.png
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Livestream, August 30, 2024 (1:24:21).
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 Livestream, October 30, 2020 (39:17).
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 32.4 32.5 Livestream, September 27, 2018 (53:06).
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Livestream, February 25, 2022 (41:00).
  34. ↑ Livestream, October 14, 2022 (52:31).
  35. ↑ Livestream, February 26, 2021 (1:12:18).
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 36.3 Interview, October 20, 2024 (1:10:00).
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 37.4 37.5 Livestream, March 31, 2022 (4:57).
  38. ↑ Podcast, April 11, 2021 (29:47).
  39. ↑ Interview, May 11, 2018 (54:34).
  40. ↑ Livestream, May 26, 2017 (21:23).
  41. ↑ Podcast, April 11, 2021 (23:36).
  42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 Interview, May 11, 2018 (47:27).
  43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 Livestream, July 29, 2022 (1:13:09).
  44. ↑ Livestream, June 26, 2020 (45:32).
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 Interview, February 7, 2021 (33:00).
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 Interview, May 11, 2018 (1:00:19).
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 Podcast, April 23, 2018 (29:56).
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 Interview, July 9, 2023 (1:35:28).
  49. ↑ Livestream, May 3, 2017 (36:25).
Retrieved from "https://ashesofcreation.wiki/index.php?title=Expedition&oldid=113093"