Hello Lords & Ladies, it's time for another progress update regarding Before Arthur! However before we delve into it, I would like to start by thanking Steam for including us in the upcoming 4X fest running Aug 11th - 18th, and while we don't yet have a live demo, we hope to get a slight boost in visibility during the event.
Speaking of a demo, I've been hard at work inching towards that next milestone and hope to have an early demo available in the next 3 - 4 months. Before then, I also plan on launching a private pre-test so anyone interested in that leave a comment below and I'll respond with some details.
Now without further ado the update...
Throne Room Advisor
So, managing an entire kingdom is hard, but you don't have to do it alone! We added a personal advisor to your throne room who will give you guidance and general information on your subjects and rule. Through him you can also change things such as tax rates, vassal assignments and diplomacy (just to name a few).
Personalized Laws and Punishments
One of the newest features is the ability to set your own laws and punishments for your kingdom. The laws of the realm are broken down into two main categories. "High Crime", covering things such as murder & treason, and "Low Crime" such as theft, or disturbing the peace. Every kingdom in the game will be able to set different methods of determining guilt along with different methods of punishment.
Setting punishments too severe can lower crime at the expense of loyalty and gaining some tyrannical traits. On the flip side, setting punishments too softly may make you loved, but at the expense of rampant crime and banditry. As a ruler you will have to decide how you wish to be seen by the people while also balancing these two realities.
You will also have a number of "Methods of Proof" at your disposal each favored by different classes of your people, while also keeping with the strange ideas of "justice" of the times.
Perhaps a trail by fire is the best way to determine a man's guilt? After all, your clergy seem to love it! Or, perhaps a good old fashioned trail by combat favored by the nobility. Each method also has a baseline of giving a fair verdict, with the better methods locked behind your tech tree.
Level Up's
The player (and NPC's) now gain experiance by their deeds and actions and can level up during the game. This means being able to assign skill points and improving your skills.
Camping
Sometimes you may find yourself far from your court or comfy bed and need to sleep. Or, perhaps you have marched your army all day and they need rest... Well now you can camp at your current location and rest. Besides sleep, camping will also allow you to cook and craft food items, hunt / forage, or set up defensive works to protect your forces.
Assigning Peasants To Buildings
We needed a way for production buildings to gather kingdom resources, so I decided to go with a (Kin) / family system. The number of families, or kin, will be tied into the overall population of each settlement, however the size of each family unit will grow (or shrink) throughout the game.
Also, assigning one kin group to a production building that has a size of three will produce less then a kin group that has a size of eight. The game will automatically assign the largest kin group available so you won't need to micro manage this too much... (unless you want to).
Plagues & Plotting
Let's face it, the dark ages had lot's of sickness and poor health conditions. So to that end I have added the chance of both the player and NPC's succumbing to illness. Sometimes this illness will be caused by an assassin and poison, well other times it could be from eating bad food or not taking proper care of yourself. The chance of dying from illness is decreased by your strength rating, hiring good healers, having the right traits, or crafting the right medicine.
Farming / Crop Planting
Lastly, I'm currently working on a way for the player to plant and grow crops both in your settlements or personal farms. Each plot will have a fertility rating that will decrease over time unless you fallow the fields and let them rest for a year. Some crop types will do better depending on weather, seasons and terrain types, and each farm will have a number of events that can either help or hinder growth.
Other Stuff Added
Improved / polished UI (on going)
Implemented a message system & quest log
Marriage & courting lords and ladies (more on this next time!)
Added a way for the player to leave an army at their current location.
Added a caravan trade system and traveling merchants
Started adding quests
That about wrapes this up for now, but if you haven't already please consider wishlisting / following the game as we have lots of features and improvements to add and refine.