Nœuds

Pre-alpha Metropolis node.

Node concept art.

Alpha-0 Empyrean village node.

Au sein de chaque serveur sont soigneusement placés des points de développement appelés Nodes.

• Il y aura 103 emplacements de nœuds ordinaires lors de la sortie en plus de 15 nœuds de chateaux (5 chateaux x 3 noeuds de chateaux chacuns) pour un total de 118 nœuds.

Les Nœuds sont des lieux prédéfinis, englobés dans une zone d'influence, dans notre monde qui peuvent se transformer dans des villes de plusieurs tailles. Ces tailles peuvent aller d'un petit camp à une métropole étendue. La taille des villes dépend de la contribution des joueurs et à quel point ils ont pu faire avancer le Nœud. Les joueurs ne créaient pas le territoire d'un Nœud, mais à l'intérieur de ce territoire, ils ont la possibilité de posséder des terres. Les joueurs qui font partie d'un gouvernement pour un Nœud en particulier pourront modifier les types de bâtiments et les services, mais principalement, un Nœud évoluera en suivant son propre chemin (imaginez plutôt des PNJs qui bâtissent ces villes, plutôt que des PCs construisant individuellement des bâtiments et les murailles). La zone de contribution pour un Nœud est plus large que la ville elle-même, permettant aux joueurs de s'aventurer à l'extérieur tout à la construisant. Nous appelons la zone de contribution, la Zone d'Influence d'un Nœud, il s'agit de la zone où les joueurs aident à l'évolution du Noeud dans lequel ils se trouvent.

Nodes exist all throughout the world and the location of said node will determine its type; but this type will be... seen at the first stage of development when the first stage when a node propagates real-time assets in the world; is basically these NPCs, these merchants that come into an area and they offer services and/or you know of stores or whatever the deal may be. You will see the flavor of the node from those merchants. So if it's a military node you'll see military people. If it's... an economic node you'll see merchants. If it's a scientific one you'll see scholars; and if it's a divine one you'll see priests and clerics. So players will have a very firm understanding of which node is which type in order to know how they want to progress. – Steven Sharif

Nodes are assigned one of four (4) node types, each of which contain unique specializations.

• Players will be able to identify the type of a node at its first stage of development (Expedition) based on its NPC population.

Node type.	Specialization.	NPCs.
Divine nodes	Faith and skill/equipment augment focuses	Priests
Economic nodes	Trade and merchant focuses	Merchants
Military nodes	Combat and class training focuses	Guards
Scientific nodes	Artisan and construction focuses	Scholars

Ashes of Creation allows you, the player, to decide the fate of the world around you. With each Node Type, you can change the flow of resources and goods in the world. Will you grow the largest Economic Metropolis and help guide the riches of Verra, or will you choose another path unlocking new stories filled with allies and enemies?

Node types are predetermined and are the same across all servers.

• A node’s type is static. It does not change based on the node’s advancement or destruction.

For example, if a level 4 Scientific Node is destroyed, it will become a Level 0 Scientific Node. It will never be any other Node Type other than a Scientific Node. The location of these Types relates to the influences of the area around the Node. – Margaret Krohn

Node types affect various services and systems at each level of node advancement.

• Node governments
• Narrative
• NPCs
• Node buildings and amenities

Node benefits

Kaelar node concept art.

Each node type has a superpower (ultimate ability) that becomes unlocked when the node reaches Level 6 (Metropolis stage).

Divine node benefits

Divine node benefits are not known at this time.

Economic node benefits

Economic nodes that have reached the metropolis stage unlock the linked economy superpower. Economic nodes with this superpower share their Auction house listings with all others.

• Up to two economic metropolises may be linked in this manner.
• Metropolis 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 the economic metropolis and its vassal economic nodes.

Economic Nodes that have reached the Metropolis Stage unlock the Superpower “Linked Economy”. Any Economic Node with this Superpower unlocked shares Auction House listings with all the others, meaning that the items listed in one Linked Economy Node can be bid on from any other Linked Economy Node. Linked Economies also connect a Metropolis and any Vassal Economic Nodes belonging to that Metropolis.

The Linked Economy Superpower has the potential to create a massive market that spans the world. This will allow players to attain and sell goods with ease, providing those who have access to these Economic Nodes a faster path to fortune in the lands of Ashes of Creation.

Military node benefits

Military nodes enable Chasseurs and reduced duration of corruption.

Scientific node benefits

Scientific nodes that have reached the metropolis stage unlock the Teleportation superpower.

• Citizens of metropolis scientific nodes may teleport between the metropolis and any of its vassal nodes, regardless of the stage of the vassal node, so long as the vassal node is not at war.

• Citizens of vassal nodes may teleport to their metropolis node and back.

• If there are multiple scientific metropolises, then an airship will provide faster travel between those scientific metropolises for citizens of those nodes and their vassal nodes, so long as the metropolises are not at war.

This will allow Citizens and Vassals of Scientific Metropolises to do things more quickly than others, as fast travel is limited in the world of Ashes of Creation. They’ll be able to exchange goods and information with ease and get to locations in the world at a quicker speed in order to gather crafting materials to create recipes, as well as participate in limited-time events.

Zone d'influence

Nodes are pre-set locations, wrapped in a zone of influence (ZOI).

Every Node is given purview over a predefined geographic area called a Zone of Influence (ZoI). No matter where you go in the world, whether you’re questing, gathering, or raiding, you’ll be helping determine which nodes will develop, and what Zones of Influence will expand. Any area that a Node controls is considered its Zone of Influence, including Vassal Nodes, and all Vassal Nodes exist within the Zone of Influence of their Parent Node. – Margaret Krohn

Every node is given purview over a predefined geographic area called a Zone d'influence (ZOI). Player activity within the ZOI is weighted and counted toward a particular node’s advancement.

Each Node can form into towns, but are limited by their neighbors. The Nodes have different levels of advancement. There can only be so many of each level. Think of this as advanced settlements needing more elbow room. Nodes encompass more land as they grow and will require more effort to be sustained. This system is a main driver for change in the world because it creates scarcity. As Nodes advance in stages of growth they will lock out neighboring Nodes from progressing, and will absorb their zones of influence.

By undertaking familiar activities, such as questing, gathering and raiding, players have agency in determining which nodes in the world will develop.

The main thing that differentiates us from other MMOs is that we have a living, breathing, reactive world... Our world is separated into zones, which are then separated into what we call nodes. Nodes are sort of invisible zones of influence that listen to everything that a player does; so as players gain experience from killing things, gain experience from doing quests, gain experience through crafting things, the node is also gaining that experience. Once a node gains enough experience it levels up and then starts to attract NPCs to it . – Jeffrey Bard

Up to one fifth of the world will be encompassed within the ZOI of a Metropolis. The many vassal nodes within a ZOI's "border" could end up looking like a country or nation.

Zones of influence connect fully across the world without any gaps.

There is not a space where you will move in to do something and no node will get that experience. – Steven Sharif

Node advancement

Illustration of node advancement from Wilderness (stage 0) to Metropolis (stage 6).

Nodes advance by collecting experience from the actions of players nearby. As players complete content inside of a Node’s Zone of Influence (the area around the node), they contribute that experience toward the Node’s development. The experience given to the Node may then be modified based on certain Events and Accomplishments. When a Node reaches the experience required, it undergoes the process of advancing to the next stage. There are a few exceptions where a Node cannot advance even though it has the required experience - most commonly, a Node can not advance if a Node is a Vassal of another Node and would advance to the same stage as its Parent Node. – Margaret Krohn

Citizen and non-citizen player activity (questing, gathering, raiding, etc.) within a node's ZOI counts toward that particular node’s advancement (progression). Nodes have seven (7) stages of advancement, with experience thresholds for each stage. When a Node reaches the experience required for its current stage, it advances to the next stage.

	Node stage.	Alternate name.	Timeframe to advance.	Player housing.
0.	Wilderness			-
1.	Expedition	Crossroads	Few hours	-
2.	Encampment	Camp	Many hours	-
3.	Village	-	Few days	Baux, Static housing
4.	Town	-	Many days	Baux, Static housing, Appartements
5.	City	-	Few weeks	Baux, Static housing, Appartements
6.	Metropolis	Metro	Many weeks	Baux, Static housing, Appartements

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; we’ll go into further details on each of those Node Types in future posts in this series. – Margaret Krohn

Conceptual illustration. Nodes that are in the ZOI of more advanced nodes have their progression capped by the more advanced node.

Beginning at Node Stage 3, when a Node advances, it enslaves nearby Nodes and makes them into its Vassals. Vassal Nodes are owned by a Parent Node and must always be at least one Node Stage below the Parent Node. This means that the Vassal Node cannot grow until the Parent Node advances in stage. Vassal Nodes give excess experience to their Parent Node, and are able to have their own Vassals, as long as they fit within the Parent Node’s Zone of Influence. They are subject to the government, alliances, wars, taxes, and trade of their Parent Node, and are able to receive federal aid from them. A Vassal Node cannot declare war on their Parent Node or any of its Vassals. Citizens of Vassals are bound by the diplomatic states of the Parent Node. – Margaret Krohn

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.

• Nodes advance to the first stage quickly. This enables NPC services such as vending or banking items.
• The more advanced the node is, the larger its ZOI becomes.
• 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.
• A node does not receive XP from the nodes within its ZOI until these nodes have reached their cap.
• Players are moved to safety if they intersect with newly spawned assets during node advancement.
• Citizens of one node can contribute to the advancement of other nodes.
• The exact percentage of advancement from obtaining items or killing monsters is not going to be explicitly known to avoid "gaming" the system.

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

Vassal nodes

Nodes greater than stage 3 (Village) enslave nearby nodes, converting them into vassal nodes.

• Vassal nodes must remain one node stage below their parent node.
  • Vassal nodes first apply any experience earned to their own deficit (see Node atrophy). 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.
• 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

Zones and progression

Donjons, Raids, Patrons du monde, Mobs, Quêtes, Events, Resources, Narratives and other content within a node's ZOI will have a diverse level range; but will scale with the advancement of that node and its racial influence.

We don’t have a strictly level 25 zone. Instead, that zone might have some level 10 creatures near the road, some level 20 creatures deep in the forest, and some level 30 creatures up the mountain. These ratios will change based on the Nodes that inform them, becoming generally more dangerous as the Node grows. All this civilization attracts the attention of Things-That-Should-Not-Be. This does not mean that wilderness areas are safe, by any means. Some may be safe-er, but all will have dangers that even the most experienced traveler needs to watch out for. – Steven Sharif

Node atrophy

Nodes can delevel based on node atrophy.

• Nodes accumulate an experience deficit each day based on the node's level. The deficit is subtracted from any experience earned that day. If any deficit remains, then this is subtracted from the node’s experience pool.
• Certain flags will appear to notify node citizens if their node has dropped below the required experience for its current stage. After a short period, if the atrophy is not addressed, the Node will then delevel.
• A node cannot delevel more than a single level at a time.
  • When a Node delevels it enters a safe period, during which the deficit is temporarily reduced to 0.

Deleveled nodes return to their previous stage.

• Deleveled nodes may lose their vassal nodes.

If a Node delevels, it returns to the previous Stage, but keeps the racial style it had before deleveling. A Node cannot delevel more than a single level at a time. For example, a Level 2 Node would become a Level 1, or a Level 1 Node would become a Level 0. If deleveling would cause a Node to lose its Vassals, it does so. When a Node delevels it enters a “safe period,” during which the deficit is temporarily reduced to 0. Once the safe period expires, the Node can once again begin losing experience based on its deficit. – Margaret Krohn

Storyline quests

Storyline quests can have multiple stages. These quest stages can actually be failed.

• The ability to retry a failed quest depends on Node progression.

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. – Steven Sharif

Trophy park

Trophy park is an area within Town, City or Metropolis nodes that has available spots for trophies. These trophies show the character names of players who are the first to complete world bosses and dungeon bosses that were spawned as the result of the development of that particular node.

• Server announcements and achievements are designed to encourage groups to experience new content.

Node development

Racial architecture styles in an Alpha-0 village node. Empyrean Elven influence (top). Kaelar Human influence (bottom).

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. – 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. Cultural influences bring more than just the aesthetic and storyline changes - benefits are granted to the dominant culture within that Node’s Zone of Influence. – Margaret Krohn

Node layout and style is determined by several factors:

• Location of the node.
• Node type.
• Race that contributed most to the node's advancement.
  • Racial appearance of a node's buildings and NPCs.
  • This applies to all nodes, including castle nodes.
• The rest is determined by the node's mayor.

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. – 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. – Steven Sharif

There is an attrition mechanic that affects experience and influence to curb a single race from dominating the entire world.

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. – Steven Sharif

Node buildings

Alpha-1 Node buildings.

Node building construction early look with Michael Bacon.

Node governments decide the location and types of node buildings to be constructed within sectors of a node.

Academy Appartements Auction house Barracks Blacksmiths City hall

College Emporium Exchange Galleria Salles de guilde Inns

Library Lumber yards Marchés Royal stables Scholar's academy Static housing

Taverns Temples Thieves' guild Trader's company University Warehouses

When the building types are determined, the community will then need to bring resources into the node (using caravans) and come together to construct the buildings (via quests and the like).

The government decides how to specialize their node. Once they choose certain things they won't be able to choose other things.

Different governments may change the buildings within a node.

And there could be regime change... If somebody doesn't like the fact that a market was built and they want to re-elect a new government next cycle, they can do so... and that market could be destroyed and a new building take its place.

Pre-defined parameters limit the number of buildings at in-node locations.

Unique node buildings

Each node type has a unique node building associated with it that can be activated at the Village stage of node advancement. The unique building plays a central role in the progress of civilization for a server.

• Economic nodes
  1. Marchés
  2. Exchange
  3. Galleria
  4. Emporium

• Scientific nodes
  1. Library
  2. College
  3. University
  4. Academy

Racial quests

Quêtes may be based on a character's race.

Different quests may relate to who the primary cultural contributor is to a node. This won't lock out content, but will add flavor to the quests.

There might even be different directories of the quest that exist for specific races, and even though you're sharing a quest to kill a boss, if you're human and I'm an elf, I will have a different arc potentially that leads in a different direction than you, even though we took the same quest; and this can relate to who the primary cultural contributor is to a node unlocking different arcs for cultures that share the primary culture of a node - not that locks out content but it gives a flavor in a different direction so that not everything is so cookie cutter. – Steven Sharif

Race matters because narratives have paths that also are influenced based on the primary contributing culture to the node... If you're a Niküa and you have you're in a Niküa node that's predominantly Niküa, you're going to have certain services and/or abilities as a member of the Niküa race that other races may not have access to... They may have alternative quest lines, but they won't have specific ones. Now those specific Niküa quests will then relate to the meta-narrative that's present in the world and they'll start to direct some of that meta-narrative; and that'll be beneficial for your kind because it will unlock certain content for your race that other races haven't unlocked yet. So there is an incentive there to see progression along that line now in order to curb the progress of a dominant race. – Steven Sharif

Quêtes that are race specific, title specific, or guild specific will likely be less than 10% of the total number of quests. 90% of quests should be able to be shared by everybody.

Player housing

Pre-alpha Empyrean freehold homestead.

Players will have the ability to survey and develop land anywhere in the world. Be a pioneer deep in the wilderness, build the home of your dreams, and work the land to cultivate resources and supplies. Alternatively, stick with civilization and safety in numbers – purchase a home within the confines of a village and watch your investment grow as that village turns into a city. Homeowners in our game will have the ability to develop their plot of land as they see fit. Focus on farming, animal husbandry, or own your very own smithy. You’ll be able to specialize your land to maximize your profits or your comfort – be sure to choose wisely.

Pre-alpha Aela (human) housing by Michael Bacon.

Player housing comes in the form of Static housing, Appartements and Baux.

Player housing	Type.	Availability.	Limit.
Appartements	Instanced.	Town stage and higher.	One per server.
Baux	Open world.	Village stage and higher.	One per account.
Static housing	In-node.	Village stage and higher.	One per server.

Static housing

Kaelar static housing concept art.

Mansion stage static housing in a metropolis node.

Empyrean in-node housing, by Michael Bacon.

Static housing provides non-instanced player accommodation within a node, also known as in-node housing.

• Players are able purchase small one room houses starting at the Village stage (Node stage 3).

Appartements

Pre-alpha apartment complex in a metropolis node.

Appartements are internal only spaces within a node that offer some housing functionality.

Players can purchase instanced apartments within a Town (stage 4 node) or above, if apartment complexes have been developed within that node.

Baux

Kaelar and Empyrean freeholds (Pre-alpha).

Pre-alpha freeholds.

Baux are sizable player housing plots that can be situated within the Zone d'influence (ZOI) of a Village (stage 3 node) or higher.

• Freeholds are limited to one per account.
• Freeholds are approximately half an acre in size. Expansions and upgrades are available as node progression allows.

The freehold system interacts with multiple other systems in-game.

• Node progression.
• Classes artisanales.
• Spawn actors.
• Quêtes.
• Taxation.

Buying and selling (Real estate)

Players buy the deeds for housing from the node itself. Players can also buy and sell properties from other players.

• In-node housing will be at a premium, and is expected to be hotly contested.
• The more apartments that have been purchased in a node, the higher the price scales.
• Players will not be able to exceed their allotment of housing in the game.

This will allow players to transfer real property goods. This includes freeholds, this includes static housing, this includes apartments that they may own; and they can sell those because those will have a limited and finite quantity. – Steven Sharif

Rental and leasing concepts are currently under consideration.

Some concepts that we have is going to be rental or leases that could be had allowing players to kind of lease a property for a period of time where they will have control rights over utilizing storage based on the area, controlling the furniture or access point; all that kind of stuff. – Steven Sharif

Node citizenship

Player housing grants the ability to claim citizenship of a node.

• Citizenship tickets may also grant citizenship to certain node stages. This mechanic will be decided based on testing.

We want these places to be populated and people to be attracted to them and so right now we think housing is enough for that. But we don't want to design ourselves into a corner where we don't have any other options, so the hope is that yes citizenship will be only gained through housing; with our caveat that if that doesn't work well we'll change it. – Jeffrey Bard

Citizenship can be claimed for Village (level 3) nodes or higher.

• A player can only claim citizenship to one node at a time.
• Only one citizenship may be declared per account, per server.
  • This may have changed to one citizenship per account.

Your account is bound to one declared citizenship per server, which means that if you have two alts and your main character on one server you may only be a citizen of one node between those three... If you have an alt on a different server, it could be a citizen of a node as well. – Steven Sharif

Changing citizenship has a cooldown of two weeks.

• Player housing ownership is not affected by citizenship changes.

You can declare citizenship to only one node and when you declare that citizenship. Let's say for example, one guild perhaps wanting to kind of take all their members and have them all declare the same citizenship to a location. The longer a node exists the higher the prize it is to take and some systems with regards to crafting progression and/or rewards and bonuses or the reliquary that we haven't really touched on a lot, those systems are going to be so enticing that from an incentive standpoint it will compel other groups to either potentially break alliances or siege the city in order to take the goods that are potentially in it. So, from an incentive standpoint we have that at play. Additionally, we don't have a cap per-se that we've announced yet on the citizenship aspect of being in a node, but we do have soft caps. It becomes costlier the higher number of citizens each time one new person wants to join to be part of a node. So, there is sort of a soft cap on how many citizens one node can have and it might be that not all in the guild can participate in that area. So, there's kind of a natural divide: A pseudo faction, so to speak between who is a part of that node and who is not. – Steven Sharif

A player does not need to declare citizenship of any node. These players won't need to pay taxes but will miss out on benefits of citizenship.

Noeuds sièges

Noeuds sièges (Pre-alpha footage).

As some areas in the world grow, others will fall. This is the foundation of the living, breathing world that is Ashes of Creation, where players will have the ability to make important decisions that matter in the longevity of an area becoming a city, or whether to siege a rival town. Rise above the ashes, create the world around you, and be a part of the story that unfolds because of your actions and decisions. – Margaret Krohn

Noeuds sièges enable players to destroy nodes. This paves the way for new development and access to the locked content in surrounding nodes. Due to this dynamic, political strife and intrigue play an important role in the structure of the world.

• Attackers may not be capable of destroying a node. Instead they may carry out precision attacks to disable specific service-oriented buildings within the node. These buildings can be targeted with siege weapons and bombs.
• If the node still exists after the siege has ended, citizens will need to obtain the resources needed to rebuild any damaged infrastructure.

You could be more precision oriented in the decision to attack a city. Let's it's a rival node that's trying to reach you know a node stage five or something and you want to disable their ability for the religious system to progress so you target the temple during the attack, or you want to disable their scholars academy from reaching a higher level so that your nodes can; or you want to disable multiple buildings that allow for experience and quests to be undertaken by its citizenship, which prevents them from keeping up in pace of experience gained with your node. These can be more precision oriented and don't have to effectualize an actual takeover of the node. – Steven Sharif

Sieging nodes will not be an easy task for the attackers. Cities and metropolises will have a considerable defensive advantage.

If you own a home in a node and you don't want to see that home destroyed, you need to defend that city! – Steven Sharif

Nodes can delevel based on node atrophy.

Read more...

Node destruction

Nodes can be destroyed starting at level 3 (Village), and are destroyed through sieges.

• A successful siege will destroy the node.
• There will be spoils from successfully sieging a node.
• Nodes revert to stage 0 (wilderness) after a successful siege.

Nodes can be destroyed starting at Level 3 - Village Stage, and are destroyed through sieges. Sieges are started via an item which is acquired through a quest that scales in difficulty with respect to the level of the Node which is being targeted for the siege. Once the item is brought to the Node and is activated, the declaration period begins and a countdown is initiated for players in the region to see. This countdown runs for a number of days equal to the level of the Node being sieged. Once the countdown is complete, the siege begins. There is a cooldown between sieges, and players must wait a certain amount of time after an unsuccessful siege before a new siege can be declared. The higher the Node level, the longer the cooldown between sieges. If a siege is successful, then the Node is brought down to Level 0, and anyone who was a citizen of that Node is no longer a citizen. – Margaret Krohn

Impact on freeholds

Baux may be attacked for a period of two hours following a successful siege against its parent node.

• Players and their allies may defend their freehold for this period of time.
• Structures and guards may be obtained to defend freeholds during this period.

After the two hour period of open combat following a successful node siege, any remaining freeholds will exist under a grace period for roughly 1 week where another node may take over the zone of influence of the freehold.

• If a freehold does not reside within the ZOI of a stage three (Village) node or above, it will be destroyed.

If a siege is successful, then the Node is brought down to Level 0, and anyone who was a citizen of that Node is no longer a citizen. Freeholds within the Zone of Influence are subject to a period of vulnerability. These Freeholds can be destroyed by other players during a period of roughly 2 hours after a successful siege. Destroyed Freeholds are subject to material loss, and blueprints for them are mailed to the player to utilize for future placement in order to allow the player to keep their Freehold’s layout and structure. Once the vulnerability period is complete, any remaining Freeholds will exist under a grace period for roughly 1 week where another Node may take over the Zone of Influence of the Freehold. – Margaret Krohn

Player housing designs and decorations are retained and can be placed again later if the housing is destroyed during a node siege.

• Blueprints are mailed to the player to utilize for future placement.
• Destroyed freeholds are subject to material loss.
• Certificates will track major milestones (such as Furnaces and Homesteads, for example).

Node redevelopment

A node that was successfully sieged may develop differently due to the following influences:

• Different races becoming primary contributors.
• Design elements determined by different governments.
• Reactions and interactions with other nodes in the world.

Node government

Node governments are chosen from a node's citizenry when a node reaches stage 3 (Village).

Positions within a node's government are attained through titles that grant special access to NPCs in the node.

• Mayor.
• Priests or acolytes in certain temples.
• Patron guild leader.
• Chief bounty hunter.

There are a lot of things that you can strive for within [a node] that grant you that special treatment. – Steven Sharif

Mayors

Alpha-1 Empyrean city node information panel.

Mayors are leaders of a node's government who control the development of that node.

• Allocate resources, taxes, and quests to help develop node defenses.

• Coordinate the transfer of needed supplies with citizens operating caravans.
  • Mayors must communicate what resources are necessary for a particular node then motivate the citizens to fulfill those needs.

• Other leadership powers.

Mayors gain new powers and responsibilities as their node advances.

Leadership powers

Government officials have wide-ranging leadership powers.

• Mark foreign citizens of other nodes as enemies of the state.

• Declare war on another node and rally citizens to the cause.

• Enter into trade agreements.

• Directing assets.

• Building projects.

• Tax allocation.

• Defensive ability.

• Governments may be able to choose a node name from a predetermined list.

The government has a lot of say in the direction of the nodes development. Directing assets, building projects, tax allocation, defensive ability etc. Players have the ability to not only create these cities, but they have the right of self-governance.

There are levers and dials that are present to both the owners of Castles as well as the elected officials of Nodes that during their administration they have the ability to impact and influence the region around them. – Steven Sharif

Guildes do not control nodes. Guild leaders will likely not be able to be mayors of nodes.

• Guilds hold separate roles in the direction of the node than the roles held by private citizens.
• Only a certain number of guilds may participate in these roles.
• Separate guild roles are reserved for small, medium and large guilds.

Guild’s also hold separate roles in the direction of the node, than the roles held by private citizens, and only a certain number of guilds may participate in these roles. Separate guild roles are reserved for Small size guilds, medium size guilds and large size guilds.

Node taxes

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

• Tax money only goes toward funding node development.

Parent nodes take a cut of all taxes from the housing and any services that occur within their ZOI.

• 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.

Node wars

Node governments may declare war on another node and rally citizens to the cause.

We have conditions that you can set between nodes with regards to either nodes being friendly with each other and acting trade alliances, or they can declare war on nodes similar to how guild wars may function in different games, where those citizens become hostile to each other based on the player government that's elected in the particular node. So those systems all kind of cater to allowing a conflict that's meaningful and that also provides a non-imbalanced relationship between stronger guilds and not as strong guilds. – Steven Sharif

Alliances

Ashes of Creation may have specific content that revolves around Alliances.

• Progression pathways within alliances.
• Guildes sharing common services with alliance members.
• Alliances can toggle relationships with nodes.

Content that revolves around alliances specifically and progression within the development of that alliance; and the ability to share some common services between guilds that are part of that alliance. I think that additionally allowing alliances to toggle certain relationships with nodes as an interaction is beneficial. That's going to provide an interesting dynamic for players who are either members of the particular node that has the relationship established or members of the Alliance. So I think that obviously building systems is is about creating the channels by which these players can form bonds and the more layers you have around those you know channels of bonding between the different guilds or players, the more sustainable that relationship. – Steven Sharif

Caravanes

Caravanes facilitate the transfer of goods for players wishing to turn a profit.

Mayoral Caravan system - Work in Progress.

The caravan system is an open world PvP system that revolves around opportunity and risk. Caravanes facilitate the transfer of goods for players wishing to turn a profit.

• Caravans are for transfer of personal goods and quests as well as supplies for castles and nodes.

• Caravans may only be sent from or arrive at village nodes or above.

• Caravans can transport goods for more than one player.

• The Pvp flagging system does not apply to caravans.

Caravan types

Ramstone Hauler pre-order pack cosmetic caravan skin.

There are different types of Caravanes in Ashes of Creation.

• Mayoral caravans.
• Quest driven caravans.
• Self-directed caravans.

The caravan system is another very big part of the node system. They are the main driver of economic activity and there is a bunch of different types of caravan. – Jeffrey Bard

Caravan PvP

Caravanes create an open PvP zone that flags players for combat (purple).

• Players will be able to state their intentions to attack, defend or ignore via a user interface.
• A group will be required to successfully attack a caravan.

Caravan destruction

If a caravan is destroyed (becomes a wreckage) it will drop a portion of the goods it was transporting.

• Caravan components may also drop when a caravan is destroyed. These components may be salvagable by the caravan owner or by other players, in the case of high grade components.
• Caravans drop certificates for heavy goods that are redeemable at the origin node for a portion of the goods.

The caravan becomes a wreckage upon destruction and that wreckage is an interfaceable item that players can come up to and they can receive certificates for a portion of the goods inside the caravan. Now the idea with that certificate is that it must be taken back to the point of origin, or at least a region within that point of origin. We'll see about that last part because there's a few things I want to test in the Alpha from a gameability standpoint. The reason why for this is because what might happen is you may have some type of collaboration within a guild to kind of game that system. Hey I'm gonna reach this caravan just to the border of the region and then we're all destroy it, collect the goods and take it to you know that region's warehouse; and have to skip out on the last half of the way. So it must successfully reach its destination before the goods can be considered a part of that region. – Steven Sharif

Underrealm nodes

Underrealm nodes and nodes directly above them are related but do not exist in the same ZOI.

• Caravan routes will go underground.
• Noeuds sièges occur in the usual manner.
• There will be underrealm Metropolises.

Coastal/island nodes

Alpha-1 coastal node.

There will be nodes along the coast and on islands.

• These nodes will have specific water oriented influences and abilities, services, questlines, that relate to the seas.
• It may be possible to siege a coastal city by sea.

Island chains are part of Ashes of Creation naval content.

Underwater nodes

Underwater points of interest that have NPC structures may appear to be like cities, but they will not be nodes.

• There won't be nodes underwater or in the water.

Patron guilds

Whether an organization is the patron of their node means it contributes the most amount of work to the node from its members.

Any number of guilds can be in a node, but the number of patron guilds within a node is limited by node stage.

• Villages and lower do not have patron guilds.
• Towns can have up to 1 patron guild.
• Cities can have up to 2 patron guilds.
• Metropolises can have up to 3 patron guilds.

Relics

Reliquary concept art.

Node relic. This is a protective relic that is preventing an attack. Once stolen, it enables a siege against the metropolis.

Relics are achievements for a node that unlock over time. They allow node citizens to craft certain legendary items and progress in certain legendary quest lines.

Sharemarkets

As nodes develop, player governments may open a Stock exchange (also called Stock markets and Sharemarkets) where players can buy and sell shares in Nodes, Guildes and Organisations sociales.

• The value of stocks is influenced by world events and the performance of nodes, Organisations sociales or guilds.
  • Hard metrics, such as quest lines, nearby resources, citizen progression, and purchases of local real estate, will determine the value of purchasable shares.

• Sieges will halt trading of shares in a node. This opens up potential for economic sabotage.

• There is no regulatory commission to restrict the purchase and sale of stocks.

Internal conflict

There won't be a civil war mechanic within nodes but there will be scope for internal political conflicts; such as undermining the current leadership and disrupting trade.

• The only way to remove an elected mayor prior to the end of their term is by destroying the node.

We want consequences to matter and if that person got elected then you need to work within the means of the mechanics to get them unelected. – Steven Sharif

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See also

• Noeuds sièges
• Player housing
• Économie
• Organisations sociales