附庸節點

Vassal node structure.

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. – Steven Sharif

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

• A 大都會 (階段 6) can control up to two City (階段 5) nodes. A City (階段 5) can control one Town (階段 4) and one 村莊 (階段 3) node. A 村莊 (階段 3) can control an Encampment (階段 2) or an Expedition (階段 1). If the 村莊 (階段 3) gets destroyed through a siege, its "vassals" are also destroyed.
  • A vassal network can extend across seas and also include islands.

• Vassal nodes gain benefits from their sovereign node (parent node) even if the node type of the parent is different to the vassal.

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 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. – Steven Sharif

• Sovereign nodes collect taxes from their vassal nodes. These taxes cannot be taken by the mayor or other players.

• Vassal nodes must remain at least one node stage below their parent node.
  • Neighboring/Adjacent nodes from Expedition (階段 1) upward block the growth of their immediate neighbors. This was intended to be tested in Alpha-1.
  • Vassal nodes first apply any experience earned to their own deficit (see 節點衰退). It then applies excess experience earned to its parent node.
  • If the parent node advances, the vassal is once again able to advance.

• Vassal nodes give excess experience to their parent node and may have their own vassals; so long as they fall within the parent node’s zone of influence.
  • 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 its own deficit. Experience beyond that is then sent to its parent node.

When the vassal reaches its cap it overflows experience up to the parent; and so it can be very good early on for parents to get vassal nodes that are very productive- that have a lot of traffic. – Steven Sharif

• Vassals are subject to the government, alliances, wars, taxes, and trade of their parent node, and are able to receive federal aid from them.
• Vassal nodes cannot declare war on their parent node or any of their vassals.
• Citizens of vassals are bound by the diplomatic states of the parent node.

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. – Margaret Krohn

相鄰節點

Adjacent nodes (Neighboring nodes) starting from Expedition (階段 1) may block (lockout) the growth of their immediate neighbors.

• 附庸節點 must remain at least one node stage below their parent node.
  • Encampment (階段 2) and Expedition (階段 1) nodes are technically not vassal nodes as they do not support citizenships. If their parent 村莊 (階段 3) node is destroyed by a node siege, these nodes are also destroyed.

節點發展

概念圖 — 位於較高等級的節點的影響區域內時，節點的可發展等級會設有上限。 影響區域的形狀將會是不規則，圖中的圓形只用於方便解說。

從第三階段起，節點升級時，鄰近的節點會被納入成附庸節點。附庸節點是由上級節點擁有，且等級必須低於上級節點一級。這代表上級節點升級後，附庸節點才能升級。附庸節點會提供大量經驗給其上級節點，且同時可以有自己的附庸節點，但條件是這些節點也位於其上級節點的影響區域內。附庸節點受上級節點的政府、同盟、戰爭、稅務和貿易影響，且可以獲取聯邦援助。附庸節點不能對上級節點或自己的附庸節點宣戰。附庸節點的公民亦受上級節點的外交狀態約束。 – Margaret Krohn

玩家 (公民或非公民) 於節點的影響區域內進行活動 (任務、採集、團隊戰鬥等) 時，將有助該節點發展，提升節點至更高階段。

隨着節點發展，其發展區域將會是出現文明的地方。節點發展至不同階段時，其發展區域內將會出現不同的建築物、NPC 和服務。節點等級愈高，發展區域便會變得愈繁盛，人口亦會變多。發展區域也會根據節點種類 (經濟、軍事、科技、神聖) 而變化。未來我們將會更詳細介紹每種節點種類。 – Margaret Krohn

隨着節點發展，將會有獨特遊戲內容解鎖，但其影響區域會同時擴大，限制相鄰節點的可發展等級。

• 第一階段發展需時短，讓玩家可以使用售賣、存放物品等 NPC 功能。
• 節點等級愈高，其影響區域愈大。
• 等級較低的節點 (即附庸節點) 即使位於等級較高的節點的影響區域內，仍會獲得經驗值，但其等級不會超越上級節點。
  • 附庸系統將在節點發展至村莊 (階段 3) 時生效，但相鄰節點從Expedition (階段 1)便會限制鄰近節點的發展。
• 遊戲的領土擴張算法會考量最鄰近的海岸、相鄰節點、以及過去數週或一個月周邊地區玩家的熱圖。
  • 此算法計算領土 (影響區域) 擴張的方法，最終會導致兩個相同等級的節點位置鄰近，但機會很小。

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. – 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 kind of close together and spanning their territories in kind of opposite directions: The Tale of Two Cities kind of thing. – Steven Sharif

• 影響區域內的其他節點達到等級上限後，才會從這些節點獲得經驗值。
• 玩家在節點升級時，與新出現的建築物處於同一位置的話，會被傳送至安全場所。
• 某節點的公民仍可以協助其他節點發展。
• 為了避免出現「為做而做」的情況，玩家不會明確知道節點升級實際需要多少物品或擊死多少隻怪物。

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. – Steven Sharif

Taxation

Alpha-1 mayoral user interface.

市長 are able to set tax rates for their node.

• This includes setting tax rates that apply to tavern games.

市長/Node governments allocate resources, taxes, and quests to help develop node defenses.

• Tax money only goes toward funding node development. This gold cannot be withdrawn by the mayor or any other player.
• Taxation rates scale based on when a player joined a node as a citizen. The goal is to exert financial pressure on node populations by making taxes increasingly expensive as nodes advance, rather than putting in place hard population caps.

Parent (Sovereign) nodes take a cut of all taxes from the housing and any services that occur within their vassal node structure.

• This tax doesn't necessarily impact the individual citizen, because citizen's tax levels are determined by their node, but the node's finances are affected by the taxation levied by its parent nodes.

節點衰退

以下某些信息最近尚未得到开发人员的确认，可能不在当前的开发路线图上。

節點 accumulate an experience deficit each day based on the node's level, called node atrophy. The deficit is subtracted from any experience earned that day. If any deficit remains, then this is subtracted from the node’s experience pool.

• An atrophy system may be implemented, where accumulated atrophy points will progressively disable services within a node. The node may be destroyed if a significant points threshold is reached.

• A previous design concept was that nodes could delevel based on accumulated atrophy.

There are intrinsic problems with reducing a nodes level as opposed to removing the node and it may be possible I'm just gonna say now that we don't actually atrophy nodes to delevel but rather accrue atrophy points that must be replenished over time; and if not it begins to disable services and further compound the atrophy problem; at which point when it reaches a certain atrophy point then the node would just disappear. – Steven Sharif

世界管理員

The 世界管理員 is an algorithm in Ashes of Creation that controls dynamic world elements. It acts as both a throttle and an incentive system for various activities to ensure certain parameters are within acceptable thresholds.

A world manager is a technical term to define a server process that lives alongside the game server; and when the game server needs to do things- communicating with other game servers within that grid- it tells that manager and that manager sends it down to the appropriate server. – Steven Sharif

• Prices of hunting certificates.
• A heatmap of experience being gained to apply to node advancement.
  • 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.
  • 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.
• Transit of resources and goods between regions to drive quest rewards for nodes.

For example if you know iron is being used as a raw resource for a specific crafting path that might drive up the price of mithril or silver; and that will incentivize the market to course correct a little bit. The idea is to provide soft incentives that help to alleviate the demand and also to prop up the supply that might not be present from the economic systems. – Steven Sharif

Auction houses

Alpha-1 Auctioneer NPC.

If a Node is the Vassal Node of an Economic Node, an Auctioneer NPC appears in that Vassal Node. The Auctioneer allows players to list non-resource/processed materials in the Parent Node’s Auction House, but players cannot bid on items from this Auctioneer. These resources and processed materials must be stored within an Economic Node in order to be listed in that Node’s Auction House. In order to bid, they must still travel to the Auction House in the Parent Node.

Auction houses enable players to list items at the Economic node in which the auction house is located.

• A listing fee will be charged to list items in the auction house.
• 附庸節點 of the auction house node will be able to view items that are listed on that auction house, regardless of node type of the vassal node.
  • This will be possible through an auctioneer emissary NPC in that node.
  • Items cannot be listed in non-economic vassal nodes.
• Items listed are also visible in community boards (bulletin boards).

• Integrated auction houses allow players to purchase items directly from remote auction houses.
  • Purchases of materials and gatherables will be automatically deposited within the listing node's local warehouse. Players will need to travel to that warehouse to retrieve them. Players wishing to move these items elsewhere will need to utilize the caravan system or other type of transportation.
  • Purchases of anything other than materials and gatherables will be mailed to the purchaser.

• There may be a taxation difference between auction houses versus other player businesses.

Data relating to auction houses, such as price history, volumes, average prices, may be available to players via a mayor-constructed service building in their node.

That's probably how it's going to be surfaced... Your your mayor is going to have to build it for you. – Jeffrey Bard

Auction house locations

Ashes of Creation concept art.

Auction houses accompany unique node buildings in Economic nodes.

• 市场 in 村莊 level economic nodes have auction houses that allow raw resources and processed goods to be posted.
• Exchanges in Town nodes have expanded auction houses that allow all goods/items to be posted.
• Economic nodes that have reached the metropolis stage unlock the linked economy superpower.
  • Up to two economic metropolises may be linked in this manner.
  • 大都會 level economic nodes enable worldwide sale prices for auction houses across Verra.
  • Items listed in one linked economic node can be bid on from any other linked economic node.
  • Linked economies also connect an economic metropolis and its vassal economic nodes.

其他

• 節點佈局與風格
• 節點戰
• 成長