We have an exciting release for you today, our new city conflict system
revolving around leylines and foci. This update brings with it a new
miniskill, Refining; a Research ministry for cities; and new abilities
in Vision and Survival.

The basic premise behind the idea is that cities will fight for control
of focal points as they spawn, generating ylem for their cities. This
ylem can then be used by the Minster of Research to obtain benefits for
the city. These benefits will require a constant upkeep of ylem to
maintain.

Here's a quick summary of what's changed before we get into the big
details:
- 'Extraction' ability in Survival
- 'Detection', 'Leylines', 'Fortifications' in Vision.
- New miniskill: Refining
- New ministry: Research
- HELP REFINING, HELP YLEM, HELP RESEARCH.
- You will gain an aura while in the presence of an extraction,
this aura means you are OPEN PK (similar to defilement aura).

There are three types of foci, in order of magnitude and yield: Major,
Lesser and Minor.

Major focal points are the most rare and will yield the most amount of
ylem. They will exist for a total period of one hour, during which
cities will need to fight for control over it and defend it while they
extract the ylem from it. A global message, visible by everybody, will
show when a major focal point spawns.

Lesser focal points are the second biggest. Unlike major foci, a lesser
will last for an unlimited amount of time. However, they have a finite
amount of energy, much less than the total yield from a major. There is
no global message when they spawn, but everybody who has the Ripples
ability in Refining will see a message should someone start an
extraction upon it.

Minor focal points are the smallest and most frequent of the foci types.
Like a lesser, they will last an unlimited amount of time with a very
small finite amount of energy. There will be an area-wide (not global)
message for those with the Ripples ability when someone begins
extraction on a Minor focal point.

During extraction, there is a chance that primal elds will spawn and
attack your group. The difficulty of these eld will depend on magnitude
of the focal point. Sometimes it may be beneficial for your group to
simply shackle the eld, rather than outright kill it. However, keep in
mind that an enemy may be able to free the eld and cause disruption
amongst your group. Please note that all elds have an alternative name
for you to target them by, for example 'citrineeld'

Being in the presence of an active extraction will make you OPEN PK.
This radius expands to five rooms around the focal point. People who
have been flagged open PK by this will have an aura surrounding them,
visible in their room descriptor when you QL/LOOK.


As your city's ylem is accumulated, the Research ministry can use these
to purchase new research trees and invest ylem into them for benefits
that the city can enjoy. There is currently four research trees
available (we do have plans for more):

Commerce
This research tree focuses on improving a city's monetary efficiency and
increasing their gold gain. Given that some of the higher research ranks
will require gold investments, this is helpful for cities that have a
lively economy or want to increase their organization efficiency.

Military
In addition to reducing wartime upkeep, the military tree provides
invaluable upgrades to abilities for both security and wartime purposes.
These present significant incentives for combat involvement, so cities
that are keen on capturing major foci will find this tree useful.

Research
The research tree has two major incentives - improvements to PvE and
experience gain, as well as increased efficiency for refining. Cities
with a long-term plan that wish to maximize their ylem yields will want
to invest heavily into this tree.

Religion
The religion tree has significant improvements for orders that have
involvement in a city. While this is a niche skill tree, the
improvements are high enough that cities with active orders and gods may
find it very appealing.


Learning the abilities in each tree will not be instantaneous, and will
require an investment over time. There is also a cumulative ylem upkeep
required to maintain the abilities you have learnt. Cities also have an
option to disable tiers of their research should their upkeep prove too
much for them to handle. This means they will lose the ability
associated with that tier, but can relearn it later when their ylem
income can support it. Additionally, there will be a significant gold
investment at certain tiers of research to unlock the next tier in a
tree.

I will be creating a thread on the forums in the Development section for
people to discuss this new system, ask questions and just give feedback
in general. Enjoy!


Penned by my hand on the 4th of Khepary, in the year 344 MA.