Racial influences
Cultural influences manifest in many ways, from node and gear aesthetics to NPC languages and lore.[2][3][4]
- Gear appearance of certain armor sets is influenced by the player's race.[2]
- Node layout and style is influenced by the race that contributes the most to that node.[2]
- 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.[5] – Steven Sharif
Artistic influences
- Aelean architecture has a French medieval influence.[8]
- Dünir have a Nordic cultural influence.[9]
- Empyreans have a Greco-Roman imperialistic feeling.[10]
- The Kaelar have a European influence.[11]
- The Niküa have a Polynesian influence.[12][10]
- The Py'Rai have a Navajo Native American influence.[10] Py'Rai architecture has a woodland inspiration.[13][14]
- Pyrian architecture has a Greco-Roman influence.[15]
- Ren'Kai architecture has an Asian influence.[6]
- The Vaelune have a Middle Eastern influence.[16]
- The Vek have a Mesoamerican influence.[16]
- You will see in the different races that are available from a player character standpoint a lot of different influences that reflect many cultures in the world: Not just European, not just Africa, not Mesoamerican. These cultures are going to be present in many of the races.[17] – Steven Sharif
- The idea is just to find a base component in the real world as a starting point and then to begin to fantasize.[8] – Steven Sharif
Node layout and style
Node layout and style is determined by several factors:[19][20]
- 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.[21] – Steven Sharif
- Environment (biome) and location of the node.[21][19][20]
- Nodes will adjust the local topography to fit the aesthetic and mechanical requirements of the node.[22]
- Currently the way that the platform system is set up, is it's capable of adjusting the topography of the node's footprint, regardless of the surrounding terrain. So the reason for that is we want to have flexibility in the presentation of the node's layout and how it is essentially both from an aesthetic standpoint as well as a mechanical standpoint with node sieges- how it's constructed and that construction should have the ability to take on a variance of different types of topography. So it shouldn't be dependent on the surrounding area. Now that's not to say that the surrounding area isn't going to have some influence over. So for example... we're experimenting a little bit with the platform tech and putting up a node up against the side of a mountain or on the edge of a cliff or something that has a beautiful vista. Those are things that we're going to test out obviously as we continue to work on the node tool and how that platform system works, but the idea is to have the node independent of the surrounding terrain.[22] – 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.[20] – Jeffrey Bard
- Race that contributed the highest percentage to the node's advancement will alter the racial appearance of its buildings, NPCs, and props.[2][23][19][4][20][24][25]
- 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.[27] – Steven Sharif
- The rest is determined by the node's mayor.[20]
- It should be possible for a node to complete several building projects within a mayor's one month term in office.[28]
- 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.[28] – Steven Sharif
Node advancement
Citizen and non-citizen player activity (questing, gathering, raiding, etc.) within a node's ZOI counts toward that particular node's advancement (progression) to a higher node stage.[4][30]
The advancement of a node unlocks its unique content, which comes at the cost of locking out an increasing ring of neighboring nodes from progressing to the next stage.[31]
- Nodes advance to the first stage quickly. This enables NPC services such as vending or banking items.[32]
- The more advanced the node is, the larger its ZOI becomes.[33]
- Less advanced nodes (referred to as vassal nodes) that fall within a more advanced node's ZOI can still gain XP, but must remain at a lower advancement stage than the dominant node.[34]
- The vassal system begins when a node hits Village (stage 3), but neighboring nodes starting from Expedition (stage 1) also block the growth of their immediate neighbors.[35][36]
- Certain quests, such as story arcs, may not be able to be turned in after a node has advanced.[37]
- 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.[38]
- 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.[39]
- 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.[38] – 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.[39] – Steven Sharif
- A node does not receive XP from the nodes within its ZOI until these nodes have reached their cap.[34]
- Node experience gain opportunities will be equitable across the four node types.[41]
- 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.[42] – Steven Sharif
Node advancement spawns a series of animations and visual effects (within the footprint of the node).[43][4]
- Players within the node are teleported to a safe location, likely a respawn area near the node.[43][44]
- 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.[43]
- NPCs will begin construction activities.[43]
- Players outside the node will see the new facade of the node pop into existence as the node advances in stage.[43]
- 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
NPC racial interaction
Storyline quests
Story arc quests (Storyline quests/Narrative quests) contain objectives for each chapter of a story arc.[45][46][47][48][49][50]
- Players can progress each chapter by completing story arc quests within the timeframe that each chapter is active.[47]
- Story arcs can branch into different stories with multiple possible endings depending on the quest objectives that players complete during each chapter.[45][46][48]
- You can't really farm the quests in any meaningful way, because once you've done the quests in a chapter, that's it until the next chapter. Whether 1000 people participate or 10, the chapters will stay active for the same length of time, and as long as you participate in the clearly-marked time frame in your quest journal, you're good. The only thing that a concentrated effort can help with is influencing the narrative paths through the arcs.[51] – Skott B
- These quests stages can be failed. The ability to retry a failed quest depends on Node progression.[48]
- There will be many different quests that actually have stages of the storyline; and these stages can actually be failed. You can actually fail a storyline; which sucks when you think about it, but at the same time that risk makes your investment that much more important.[48] – Steven Sharif
- Quests may differ based on the stages of nearby nodes, seasonal influences, and events such as world bosses.[52]
- Quests involving citizens from multiple nodes are unlocked based on the alliances and other relationships between the nodes and their progression.[53]
See also
References
- ↑ Livestream, June 26, 2020 (45:32).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Livestream, March 31, 2022 (4:57).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Interview, February 7, 2021 (33:00).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Blog - Know Your Nodes - Advance and Destroy.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Interview, May 11, 2018 (1:00:19).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Livestream, October 31, 2019 (40:27).
- ↑ Livestream, February 25, 2022 (49:42).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Interview, October 20, 2018 (3:47:17).
- ↑
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Interview, May 11, 2018 (1:03:21).
- ↑ Podcast, May 11, 2018 (31:35).
- ↑ Livestream, September 30, 2022 (1:08:24).
- ↑ Livestream, February 25, 2022 (44:28).
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, October 16, 2017 (15:58).
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Podcast, May 11, 2018 (31:35).
- ↑ Interview, May 11, 2018 (1:04:27).
- ↑ Blog - Know Your Nodes - The Basics.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Livestream, October 30, 2020 (39:17).
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 Livestream, September 27, 2018 (53:06).
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Livestream, February 25, 2022 (41:00).
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Livestream, February 26, 2021 (1:12:18).
- ↑ Podcast, April 11, 2021 (29:47).
- ↑ Interview, May 11, 2018 (54:34).
- ↑ Livestream, May 26, 2017 (21:23).
- ↑ Podcast, April 11, 2021 (23:36).
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 Interview, May 11, 2018 (47:27).
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 Livestream, July 29, 2022 (1:13:09).
- ↑ Video, February 29, 2024 (33:57).
- ↑ A reactive world - Nodes.
- ↑ Video, April 20, 2017 (0:02).
- ↑
- ↑ Node series part II – the Metropolis.
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 Livestream, October 16, 2017 (50:20).
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, February 29, 2024 (53:58).
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 Interview, July 18, 2020 (10:04).
- ↑ 39.0 39.1 Interview, July 8, 2020 (1:00:15).
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, September 24, 2021 (1:21:23).
- ↑ 42.0 42.1 Livestream, May 26, 2017 (28:16).
- ↑ 43.0 43.1 43.2 43.3 43.4 Livestream, October 14, 2022 (55:13).
- ↑ Livestream, November 17, 2017 (55:27).
- ↑ 45.0 45.1 Livestream, April 7, 2023 (58:39).
- ↑ 46.0 46.1 46.2 Video, March 31, 2023 (14:20).
- ↑ 47.0 47.1 Video, March 31, 2023 (12:47).
- ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 48.3 Interview, October 20, 2018 (2:36:25).
- ↑ Livestream, January 18, 2018 (39:08).
- ↑ MMOGames interview, January 2017
- ↑ 51.0 51.1
- ↑ Livestream, March 26, 2021 (1:12:51).
- ↑ Livestream, July 25, 2020 (1:50:20).