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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
I think this game needs a Band / Company system that let's you work as mercenaries.
Conrad
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
While Guilds quite literally make you into a ruling power, these Bands or Companies, whichever sounds better, would be nothing more than a sort of business where you can undergo tasks set by players, regardless of your faction/guild. The moment you accept a task, you are temporarily flagged as a mercenary and "lose" affiliation with any original allies besides fellow mercenaries in the band/company and your employers. Task successful, and you receive the payment. Try to swindle the mercenaries and they can shank and Rob you without much of repercussions, since technically you're breaking the law by duping them 🤣
It would give incentive to socialise beyond your guild and fuck around a bit more than in a guild while also gaining you profit and some fame
It would give incentive to socialise beyond your guild and fuck around a bit more than in a guild while also gaining you profit and some fame
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Having a mercenary company with a job board. A guild could post a job for 'we want some extra hands to guard this caravan run'. I could sign up to help and get paid for guard duty without having a guild to be a part of.
It would be really cool it also had a progression system so people were more interested in hiring me because I do good work.
Although this could lead to some abuses (ex : joining mercenaries in order to attack a parent node of your own node), I think the general concept is nice!
But if you want your node to overtake your parent node this is exactly what people would do
"I didn't attack your caravan, it was some bandits or mercenaries"
Leaves a layer of intrigue open...
You're a mercenary. You don't give a shit who you work for as long as you get paid. People will abuse anything and everything so no point in cutting cool content
A mercenary can’t have two masters.
Yeah I got that, my point here is not about immersion but about game balance. This particular feature could potentially break the balance the game wants to bring about the node system.
On that regard the node citizenship is the "top" of the affiliation system, and the vassal node system is designed for vassal and parents nodes to work together, even if the vassal node dislike the parent node. This is a key feature of the node system, which is the core feature of Ashes.
On an immersion standpoint I agree it would make sense that mercenaries could help to burn to ashes a parent node.
Nonetheless I highly doubt that any "side" component such as this hypothetical mercenary idea (no offense here, as I said I like the idea itself
That being said this mercenary system could bring a lot of possibilities and fun I definitely agree with that.
This would make a lot of sense. Mercenaries would had to sacrifice the housing and citizenship system, but it would bring other advantages to them.
Or guild or entire node which oriented towards merc type of work. One just not pick work against your own company. Why stop just at small tasks, why not hire people to fight on behalf of your node in a siege you or your attackers initiated if you know that are more capable people, lets say more pvp oriented culture in other node to do it for you if you can pay the price.
To encourage that symbiosis between players who perhaps are proficient in economy stuff and those who like to take part in battles more. Allowing to hire muscle in general I think makes the dream of "there are multiple ways to progress" actually real.
The only slight issue which some people may take with it, is buying carries would be baked into the game. Personally I see it as valid way to play the game and progress through content as long as economy maintains integrity. But I guess there are ways to curtail it programmatically.
How about instead of citizenship you can't join a guild. Being a mercenary would just be a job you still need a place to stay, I still want to build a freehold... Being a part of a guild would mean I have allegiance to someone...
Being a mercenary just means I'm a freelance worker for whatever guild wants to hire me for whatever job they're looking to do.
Can you imagine one guild trying to hire hands to defend a caravan run, while arrival guild is trying to hire mercenaries to sack the caravan run. Then you being a mercenary with no attachment to either guild just going with whatever "mission" pays better, and getting a reputation bonus if you succeed at your job...
Merc guilds? I mean, what if I want to hire an army, like Swiss guard, not just a few commoners to help with the muscle. And allegiances can be based on monetary relations. I mean if you have a long term business deals with one of the clients, just because someone paid a bit more you won't be jumping ship. Bad for the business long term.
So yeah, mercs absolutely can have allegiances. I don't think think we need a separate label for them. Just make the systems and players will sort it out themselves how they want to play the guild and how to organize around those systems.
Thing is, if you give it a specific system, you will force ppl to interact more.
Accessibility increases usage. Yes.
What I mean by systems is that player who's looking to hire for someone shouldn't have to go to discord channel or yell "Looking for hire' in trade chat for an hour to get it.
Have a separate UI, like a city notice board at the main square or something.
Oh yeah, obviously, that's how it usually works with mercs.
Otherwise, I still think mercs should be able to join guilds and be citizens tho. If you have a choice to do something, then you should be able to do it.
But the allegiance isn't to the person, it's to the paycheck... Someone pays me a hundred gold a week to help defend the caravan run, sweet. And someone offered me 200 gold to attack it... You're right I wouldn't want to lose my steady income, but if they offered a thousand? Well, time to cash out and find a new job? Or if I want to stay loyal I could ask for a raise, or to join the guild if I'm feeling a more permanent commitment...
Though as I said before this would be more of a means of socialization for those who can't join guilds, meaning that regular paycheck job probably wouldn't work out for them either...