Clan and Guild Content

[admin]

Describe perfect clan and guild systems you encountered before or the one you think it should be? 

We are asking a very wide open question to get as many ideas as possible. 

 

What should be in the game to make it interesting for Guilds and Clans?

[Verhoeven]

A game lobby and an 'add a friend system' (so also friends outside a clan/guild) would make the set up of any battle convient.

[CaptainTJ]

Interesting for Clans/Guilds would be :

-different roles

-clan/guild owned ports (maybe for a long time to steer the economy in the port etc.)

-gouverment

-a clan/guild owned house

-clan/guild warehouses (good for a guild intern economy)

-a guild cashregister (for better organisation and maybe also lending transactions etc.)

-(maybe) guild owned forts, which could help in battles

-(if pirates will be include) guild owned Piratenest or somethign like that.

 

Thats what i think would be interesting and helpfull for guilds/clans.

 

 

 

[Digby]

Not interested in clans and guilds at all.

 

Would like to have an easy to use game lobby/interface that lets me know when my friends are online and allows me to easily talk with them over voice (unless we just use TS or Vent).

 

For a one-off casual battle; allocating players to sides and identifying nationality of that side in a pre-game lobby.

 

Selecting a battle map from a list of possible choices.

 

A scenario generator tool to place ships and squadrons on a map and determine victory conditions.

 

Erm, sorry, not answering your question at all! Is there a game interface/lobby thread!?

[Barberouge]

What should be in the game to make it interesting for Guilds and Clans?

It depends on the power entities: states, big companies, shippers, ship owners ?  Would there be homeland and colonies ? Could players or guilds/clans setup new places or govern places ? What would be AI controlled, what would be players controlled ? Would the world be permanent or would there be some sort of game reset when some goals would have been reached ? What system would be used to decide who controls a place, who conquers a place ? How would one gain basic economic power: materials producing, ship building, trading, smuggling, privateering, pillaging ? How would one use an economical power: build his own ships, arm ships for his own campaigns, lend his ships, control places ?

 

 

In the game historical period, the power entities were the states (monarchy, federation...), the companies, the shipowners, the shippers.

 

- States had specific ministers in charge of the state naval forces (Royal Navy, Marine Royale...), who decided where to build arsenals, how to supply them, how many and which ships would be built. The states negociated peace treaties, bought territories, set taxes.

 

- The states sometimes gave trade monopolies to big companies (East India Company, Compagnie des Indes Orientales...). Those societies could set taxes, fortify strongholds, build drydocks and arm ships for war.

 

- Shipowners and shippers (smaller companies) could operate in the regions where a monopol wasn't given. If they would run the risk, they could smuggle. If nations were at war, they could also arm ships for privateering.

 

Since their common goal was to see their nation succeed, the lines weren't always clear between the 3 entity types: the states delegated their diplomacy to companies and lended ships to privateers, companies built arsenals in the colonies and helped to wage war in the homeland, and shippers were potential candidates to become important companies.

 

 

From my point of view, a good age of sail conquest game should try to include historical elements in order to create an immersive atmosphere and distinguish itself from the dwarf/sci-fi games. But it shouldn't fear to take some distance from reality in order to create an interesting strategical gameplay for guilds/clans. Conquest rimes with economy, war and politics. There should be faction vs faction, guild vs guild from different factions and guild vs guild from same faction (internal struggle). The more is controlled by players, the better: game controlled entities should be built as a tool to shape the game, not as a convenience to escape endgame complexity. Also the less grind, the better

[FLGibsonJr]

I would be much more interested in an organized naval squadron, that would in a sense serve as a guild/clan etc. I was in a squadron called USN (which stood for United States Navy) when playing AOSII, and we often competed in a very organized manner with other squadrons such as the IRN (Imperial Russian Navy), the RN (Royal Navy) etc etc., people usually identified with their own country's squadron, but this was not always the case. That is what I would really look forward to most in this game, organized matches between very organized squadrons. They can be incredibly entertaining and engrossing, the best contests lasting as much as 2 hours or so. With large numbers of players you can also have multiple squadrons under one national flag. It is all very interesting to contemplate.

Best Regards,

Gibson

[adambomb]

I'm for guilds, If players want to join one, let them, if not, ok with me,, are you going to have multiple characters with one account?

[Adair]

I kind of like the idea of building something together as a guild. Star Trek Online has its starbases that offer services and top end gear to fleet members. Warframe has its dojos that do much the same. The idea of a naval station, or port city, or pirate base (or whatever) appeals to me. Probably hard to give this thing functions until we see more of what the gameplay and economic play is like, but the idea of building something together is appealing.

[Samuel Adams]

Wow I would love to hear what you guys plan on doing.

[Johny Reb]

The Nations Societies thread as well as many otherwheres have covered many of our ideas on how we'd like to see societies organized. Ill outline a couple small points now and wait to see  the conversation goes before rehashing very long discussions from other threads.

1. A society of  significant size.

2. A detailed ranking system within the society that allows us to link things like naval ranks, reputation, missions completed, etc as a way of automatically ranking up members.

3. A dynamic that encourages people to stick with their society - many of us suggest society owned and managed shipyards

4. Society missions that benefit the society in some way but not if the missions are just grinding. Then I'd rather do without them.

5. Society owned ships that can be leased or lent out at the risk of the society.

6. It would be nice to own land and to build a city as a society but this raises problems as well.

 

All of these suggestions could probably have a thread of its own and some of them already do.

[Ned Loe]

-Purchase Guild scroll to start a guild (20 member guild)

-Sell guild upgrades (50, 100, 150 members upgrades)

 

 

-Guild influence:

a. all members generate influence by doing missions and events.

b. influence can be spent by guild leaders to get more guild upgrades.

 

-Guild unlocks:

a. get 10 members and unlock: +5%xp for 1 hour clickies, +5% influence for 1 hour etc..

b. get 10 members and unlock:

 

-economy upgrades

-pvp upgrades

-adventurer upgrades

-shipbuilding upgrades

-ship upgrades

 

-premiere guild upgrades will be unlocked when guild has 150 members

a. guild events

b. guild ships

c. etc... 

 

the bigger the guild upgrade tree the more people will stay and play, same thing for rewards and items. (always reward players for helping/completing events and grant xp as they go)

 

Guild chat

Guild Logo

Guild Governor

Guild Ports

Guild war declaration to another guild.

Guild warehouse

Guild wallet

Guild boosts

Guild only unique ships 

Guild transport service 

Guild escort service 

Guild port upgrades (port guns, port structures etc)

 

something like this, but with real upgrades for a naval warfare:

 

[Samuel Adams]

You know I don't like WOW but that is a cool system.

[Johny Reb]

I don't like Wind's idea (sorry). Its to flat and like every other game out there which has never in my opinion gotten it just right.

 

I suggest a more dynamic system...

 

Lets work with influence as Wind suggested. Every player in a society generates "influence", Influence is used for upkeep of a facility. Lets call this facility a fort. The society must build this fort which costs money and influence. The fort must be maintained and so it will continue to cost influence over time so that only a society that is ran well and has generated enough loyalty from their members will be able to generate enough influence to keep the fort running. Now this fort also needs to be armed and supplied with powder and shot after every battle which will also cost something. So you see, the structures give purpose to the society above and beyond just making some friends. The benefit isn't + this or + that but rather that you can now defend the port you do your buisness in. The joy of building a large successful society is that you can build more and more structures that allow everyone in the society to prosper.

 

This would then extend to other structures. Some would cost alot to maintain and build and others not so much. Structures such as warehouses, shipyards, auction houses, graineries would be some structures for societies to expand into.

 

If the devs choose not to have society owned ports and rather go with a model where societies set up shop in a port then you have the dynamic of societies working together in order to build a port up. One builds one fort and the other builds another. Alliances could be built.

 

All of this provides for a dynamic benefit for successful societies and alliances that is much more interactive and ultimately beneficial than a + this or + that. It removes the need for grinding to unlock benefits or arbitrary member numbers.

 

This thread probably isn't meant for debate so please don't take this as an argument against Winds ideas but rather as an answer to the admins question using Winds ideas as a door to explain my own hopes for societies.

[SirThorne]

-Guild unlocks:

a. get 10 members and unlock: +5%xp for 1 hour clickies, +5% influence for 1 hour etc..

b. get 10 members and unlock:

I like having guild upgrades and unlocks, but they shouldn't be based on a member count.

Upgrades based on guild population encourage spam invites, and such.

 

I would instead give guilds bonuses based on how long they have been around, and based on how active they are in the world.

 

 

What should be in the game to make it interesting for Guilds and Clans?

To answer this question, here are some things I'd like Guilds to "do" in the game.

 

• Ship Production.

^{Ideally this would be used for society companies, to allow them to build merchant vessels and escort ships, but also to allow them to build ships for sale.}

^{This would also include a feature to allow for society owned ships that could be loaned out for major shipping contracts and other society use.}

• Port/Fort Management.

^{We need a feature to allow a guild/Society to call a Port home.}

^{This could be implemented many ways, but a society based in a port should have a significant impact on the local economy.}

^{Perhaps the Society could build a port themselves, or even better, construct a fort near a harbour with the potential for upgrades and a need for constant upkeep.}

^{These defenses should be critical to holding a port, and maintaining the law.}

 

• Large scale RvR.

^{Guilds/Societies should be grouping up often to blockade important enemy harbours, and form hunting parties to scour the trade lanes for foreign traders.}

^{The largest battles should occur when a large blockade group is met by foreign defenders.}

^{In these line fights, the readiness of the harbour's defenses should be an important advantage for the defending nation.}

 

I would like to again link my Trade Routes thread, due to the overlap it has with this topic.

[Brigand]

Guilds/clans/societies are a very important tool because they allow players to effect the Multiplayer part of MMO. Clans create their own added value to the game by means of human interaction; you meet people, make friend, do stuff together.

 

Resulting from this, I'm of the opinion that the most important role of a clan is to get people together. Let the player be part of a group and thereby giving them a sense of identity.

To effect this, there should be a very strong focus of providing clans with means of communication/tools to organize themselves. The most basic of those tools would be:

• chat: for communicating with clan members when they are online.
  Voice-comms do the same, but the game should provide a solid method of 'talking' to each other, that does not require any third-party software. If new members join your clan, you want to be able to talk to them immediately.
• mail: for communicating with clan members that are currently not online.
  In EVE, we found that the in-game mail system was the most important tool in getting people organized. Important feature for an in-game mail system would be:
  1: web-access. The option to interact (on a limited basis) with the game while, for example, at work, greatly increases the feeling of being 'connected' and helps enormously in organizing events, etc.
  2: filters to prevent overflowing members with emails about subjects they are not (currently) interested in.
• calendar/planning-tool: A tool to help organize events.
  A calendar helps members to spot what will happen when and is very valuable for keeping a larger group of players informed about what's going on when.
  The functionality of the calendar can be greatly expanded upon with a tool that allows members to indicate at what day & time they could attend an event/battle/chat/whatever. A very good example of such a tools is datumprikker.nl (english language website)
• controllable subdivisions: a tool to give each area of interest the room to flourish.
  Not every member is interested in every activity. Subdivisions are a tool preventing information clutter for members by dividing areas of interest. At the same time, subdivisions empower the clan-leader(s) to delegate tasks to those people who are 'pulling the cart' in some subset of the gameplay, as to give each group of players the attention they deserve. Subdivision are not needed for small clans, but become become a very welcome addition for keeping things organized when the number of members increases.

With the above tools, clans will create their own game content: there is no better incentive to log-on than social interaction with others gamers.

 

Cheers,

Brigand

[Ned Loe]

Some simple ideas.

 

 

Guild can start developing a port after reaching a certain guild level.

 

- Select a port and start investing points into port infrastructure. (Walls, guns, buildings, shipyard lvls to unlock new ships),

 

This game will have 100s of guilds on each nation. Each guild will be able to start helping to upgrade a port, but first it has to reach to a certain lvl and get enough influence points. Building a fort required a long time, so all guilds will need to invest in order to complete the task and move to another one. (if nations can capture ports, then port guns will be destroyed and town infrastructure needs to be rebuild)

Guild lvls:

 

LvL 1:

 

+5% xp to all members

+5% loot reward to all members

 

5000 influence to unlock Economy Upgrades (enables Port development)

5000 influence to unlock War Upgrades (enables new guns, powder etc..)

5000 influence to unlock Naval Upgrades (enables new ship constructions)

10000 influence to unlock lvl2 guild upgrades,

 

LvL 2:

 

etc.. your ideas...

 

 

We also need,

Friend list (last log in time display)

Easy group add/remove ability, group AFK display.

Players can join groups just by typing leader's name.

Ability to send items to members. (Mail items to anyone in your friend list with quantity limit!)

Chat item link (ex. press Shift+Click item to display Name+stats in chat, direct link to locations, spawn points)

While in group players can show places on the mini map. (draw on map ability)

List loot on the go (list items on AH while on the open sea or land)

[Johny Reb]

Wind

Although I offered counterpoints to your last post I find some in the above post ones I can agree with.

 

I would also like the ability to mail items to other members but only within a port. No port to port mail. It defeats the purpose of hauling. (im referring to stuff not messages)

 

I like your idea of an interactive chart/map, at least when it comes to battle planning. Especially if their is a PB structure in the game. But this is not really a society thing as it is a game thing.

[SirThorne]

Some simple ideas.

 

...

I more or less agree with this entire post.

The details leave room to be tweaked, as they should, but overall this is the direction I would go in.

 

Many of the things "we also need" are standard fare in MMO games, so I hope they will not be omitted.

[Ned Loe]

This is what I would like to see as a basic start.

 

Some useful info:

 

GUILDS

 

A guild can be formed by any player by visiting the guild NPC in any major town and paying a fee of 5000 gold to purchase a guild charter. Guild names can be 16 characters maximum. Initially a guild can have up to 20-50 members, with member numbers expanded by unlocking the appropriate Guild Technology or 150 members if guild upgrade purchased.

 

Leveling a guild relies on player contribution. Players are able to contribute Guild Reputation points (guild rep) by completing certain objectives within each world zone.

 

GUILD REPUTATION

 

 

Guild reputation (guild rep) is the key to guild leveling. For every guild level achieved, the guild earns a technology point which can be used to unlock additional buffs and bonuses accessible to guild members.

 

Guild rep is earned by completing specific objectives in each world zone. These objectives are listed under the Achievement tab. Each world zone has a set of objectives to complete to earn guild rep. It consists of completing missions and public events (PE's), although completing all events in a zone will result in all guild rep being earned. Generally guild rep can be earned by completing the 3 minor missions in a zone plus 1 PE, or a combination of PE's and missions.

 

Guild rep starts at 10 points in the starting zone. A player can contribute a maximum of 150 points every 24 hours.

 

ALLIANCE 

 

You can have an alliance with other guilds to aid and assist in World domination Battles with other Alliances. An Alliance can consist of up to 5 guilds and is reliant on Alliance points earned (i.e. accrue alliance points to allow additional guilds).

 

GUILD TECHNOLOGY

 

Unlock-able technology to aid the guild and members and why it is good to be a part of a guild. From unique ships to rare rewards to different bonuses that help members when activated.

 

Guild Technology points are obtained each time the guild levels. Each technology requires a certain amount of points to be allocated to advance to the next level. Some technology levels require the guild to have reached a certain level to allow advancement. Some technologies also require the player to have contributed a certain amount of Guild Reputation points before it can be accessed by the player.

 

Many technologies, once activated, have a time limit for use and require a cool-down period before that technology can be accessed again.

 

GUILD RANKS

 

-Editable guild ranks.

-Preset Guild ranks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Månis]

How would politics affect the guilds?  

 

For example http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/509-little-things-youd-like-to-see/#entry10324

if there is that many naval powers ingame ( dunno if all will be playable ) how will the countries politics affect the guilds.  Will the countries always be at war or will that change? If country A goes to war with country B, does that mean that the guilds of country A and B are automatically at war with eachother?

 

What determents if the countries goes to war with eachother, is it the players of that nation or is it random events?

[Johny Reb]

I do like the idea of guild technology. I could even accept that a guild starts out with only 50 members(although I wouldn't prefer it) until their technology increases to allow more but expansion technology should come soon and easy. I believe in the meta games inside the greater game and a technology tree for societies could be one of those meta games. It also discourages the constant creation of the societies that come and go and rewards societies that are managed well. I would just hope that these "technology points" that wind suggests wouldn't come from one grind after another. Also, I'd rather not have guild "levels". There is no need for that at all. The technology unlocks are enough to count as a "leveled up" society.

 

I'm sorry again Wind but I think I'm at odds with all your other ideas. I think our visions are more in conflict with each other. Please don't take my responses as being a "hater".

[Johny Reb]

I'd like to see the abilities to take ship orders. Like in game mail it would provide a player the ability to place an order and put in a deposit.

[Johny Reb]

I've been brainstorming alot and trying to make a complete list of what I'd like to see a guild be able to do. The following is what I've come up with so far. As more ideas come from me or from others I will edit this post to include changes or additions. I borrowed some of the ideas from other people and will continue to do so but its difficult to give everyone credit since some of what I borrowed was from memory.

 

Leadership roles/Membership ranks

Ranks within a society should be society designed. So, a society that wishes to have a group of equal leaders can do so and those that want to be sole leader can do so as well. They should also be able to set up a core leadership group with sub leaders that rank below them.

 

When a core group of leaders exist there needs to be a way to remove an underperforming leader from the core. I would suggest a removal vote mechanism. The purchaser of the society deed could be exempt from such a vote.

 

The society should be allowed to create as many member ranks as they desire.

 

The society ranks should have these tools...

• Be defined by more than just their privileges. Leaders should be able to post a description of the roles so that soc members know how promotions are given out. Some elements of promotion may not be in the game like TS. If a soc wants that to be a part of the rank then that could be posted in the description.

• The ability to make some promotions automatic. They could be linked to naval ranks or court titles and even the completion of certain missions.(My suggestion is to have all missions in game numbered and then in the set up of ranks there could be an input section for the #of the mission that must be completed.

• There should be a punishment/warning system for society members. I would suggest a flag system. Three strikes and your out.

• A voting system for society members that allow the leaders to select which ranks get to vote, i.e. leadership, officers, members, or certain society ranks.

• There should be a way to customize an individuals rank without removing the rank. For instance, if a rank requires you to be a Duke, have been in the society for 6 mo. And completed mission 101 and your perks are Invite, voting, kicking, Access to Warehouses and the member abuses the kicking privilege then the leaders can suspend his kicking privileges without a full demotion that removes the other perks.

 

Perks

This is not an exhaustive list. What else should be listed? Here some for a start...

• Invite

• Kick

• Access to Society Warehouses. Each one separately if there is more than one

• Voting rights

• Access to Society Bank – This should be balanced with a tool that allows the society to define how much and how often the member can access the bank.

• Event posting/editing of society messages

• Useage of society ships, small, medium, large, huge

• Editing society Ranks

• Allowed to hold society offices

• Make treaties

• Alliance ambassador duties

• Shipyard Dock Management

• Alliance Chat Function

• Posting on calendar

• Use of punishment/warning system

 

 

Guild Activities

• Guild run shipyards with multiple “dry docks”. Discussed in other threads, societies would own the shipyards and the shipyards would contain “dry docks” and associated warehouses to build ships. A society could build multiple dry docks and assign management of them to trusted and capable players. Individuals players not connected with a society are similar to family run businesses and therefore could only build the smallest of shipyards and careening facilities. Other society facilities (ex. farms, mines, granaries, etc.) could also be assigned to members or even leased out to other societies.

• A society house that could be used as RP meeting houses and the function of inviting alliances and friends into. These houses should reflect the size, reputation, influence, and achievements of a society.

• Alliance/Society built and provisioned forts to protect society ports. Forts could be designed like ships that don't move. The society can "man" the fort and the fort would have its own "gundeck" like the ships do now. This would also be a way for newer players to participate in big battles even though they don't have a rated ship or even a frigate.

• A scenario generator that I would see used as a way of a society testing a member for promotion or for access to society built and owned ships.

• Arranging Convoys

• Organized clan v clan battles with trophies in a skirmish(no loss) environment.

• Guild missions or achievements.

• War with foreign societies. We would be basically pvp flagged for those clans that we are at war with regardless of if you are in a pvp zone or not. This should be accepted by both societies.

• Guild technology tree

• Inter society/alliance politics, the ability to designate members of your alliance.

• It would be nice if societies/companies could get recognition by the monarchy.

Guild Tools

• Anonymous suggestion box

• Friends list

• The ability to donate funds to port or alliance members.

• Guild chat channel/Alliance chat channel

• Calender planning tool. (ty Brigand)

• “mailing” material to society members in a port. Not from port to port.

• The ability to take build orders within the society and outside of it.

• It would be nice if the leadership had the ability to make “notes” about a players accomplishments or problems with the society so they can be tracked.

• The ability to see a members join date and promotion date.

• Hauling contracts. A tool that would allow a society to publicly publish contracts to haul material with payment by the ton. With this would have to be a way to insure the voyage against loss that the society could require of the hauler to posses.

• Automated collection of in game dues, loan payments, material payments, etc

• guild pennants(flags) for ships (Prok)

• Society "stores". Like auction houses but run by the society and would allow members to sell their products through it. (Prok)

[Marion van Ghent]

Lots of good stuff in that post, Johny

 

I might quibble with a few things -- e.g. I'm not sure, for game balance reasons, it's a good idea to have separate guild technology trees. But I'm sure that and anything else will be discussed in its own thread as Game Lab starts fleshing out guilds.

 

A couple things I would like to suggest in addition:

• Ability to rent out guild facilities to either guild or non-guild members (both a tool and a perk)
• Automated loan calculations of materials/time/funds (again, both a tool and a perk)
• Automated collection or deposit of in-game dues (funds/time/materials)
• Ability to sell stocks and bonds (basically a reverse loan )

With some of these tools, for example, a larger guild could maintain a large shipyard which smaller guilds or individuals could pay (in game) to use; or a guild could act as a bank, giving out loans at whatever interest rate and terms they set.

[Johny Reb]

I added the first and third bullet points to my post. I combined the shipyard guild activity with your first bullet point.

Could you explain what you mean in the second bullet point and expand on the last one by telling us how that would play out in the game? The ability to sell stocks and bonds I think goes well with the idea of corporations but how would it be policed?

I also changed something about the forts built by societies. I thought... if a society or alliance can build a fort why can't they man them in port battles. I suggest that game labs design the forts to be manned with a "gundeck" just like the ships and with different types of shot. For instance, hot shot. Control of the forts could be assigned to players at the beginning of a fight for the port. Newer players who don't own ships of the line yet or even frigates could man the forts allowing them to participate in these large battles nonetheless.