GameElements

Foreword

Discussion should take place in the appropriate thread in the Fortress forum.

Contributors:

• Charles Goodwin

Original author

License:

This document is available under the Gnu Free Documentation License

Castle Construction

Construction rules enforce basic castle design principles - walls do not bend, towers are strong points, etc

Castle Components

There are 6 major castle components:

• The Keep

Mandatory building that must be placed first

• Square Towers

This type of tower is quick to build but weaker

• Round Towers

There are slower to build but stronger and better archer coverage

• Thin Walls

Quick to build but easy to breach and no archer slots

• Thick Walls

Slow to build, consume more resources, but strong and may have archer slots

• Gateway

Required for castle access but are a weak point

Construction Rules

• Walls can only be straight and connect to a tower at either end
• Every castle has a keep
• Every tower has a door
• Walls may cover these doors - wall to tower connection assumes entry way into the wall
• Entry to walls can only be through towers
• Each castle must have a keep inside it's wall boundary
• Each castle must have a gateway
• Each castle must have at least one inner facing door on a tower
• Exposed doors make it easier for castle defenders to move around but also make the castle more susceptible to falling once a wall is breached or to spies
• A castle is considered complete once the keep is enclosed inside a complete boundary wall

Defensive Considerations

• A thick wall may, for a small fee, have an archery slot - this slightly weakens the wall
• A thick wall may have boiling oil defenses on it's summit, for a small fee and 2 peons and act as a basic unit in terms of training and requiring a wage
• Castle gates may be opened in combat to allow defensive units into and out of your fortress
• When a section of wall is destroyed, it greatly weakens the adjoining segments
• If a tower is destroyed, adjoining wall segments are also destroyed
• The more buildings you have inside your castle walls, the more vulnerable your fortification is to fire attacks
• Buildings may be built outside your castle but these are susceptible to raid attacks during your construction campaign

Game Economy

The idea of the game economy is to balance castle construction speed with defense build up, but trying to avoid nitty details. Keep the micromanagement minimal or avoid it altogether.

"This is not an RTS."

Unit assignment should be automatic - animations will simply be animations and, whilst may be representative of work rates, will not dictate them.

Commodities

There are 5 commodities:

• Gold

You start off with a fixed amount of gold and receive a fixed monthly income allocated by your King. All taxes go to the King.

• Stone

Each map has a finite amount of stone and must be collected by peons (unskilled workers

• Wood

Available in unlimited supply but must be collected by peons

• Metal

A set amount is allocated to you by the King. Any extra must be bought at the market.

• Food

Food will be purchasable only. Local townsfolk produce enough food for everybody, but excess must be paid for. Food stocks will dictate siege survival.

Buildings

• Smithery

For every blacksmith you employ beyond the first, a smithery hut must be constructed (surplus blacksmiths leave), and if a smithery is destroyed, its blacksmith dies/leaves as well.

• Garrison

A garrison is required for every 20 soldiers you have, and if destroyed your knights will go on mercenary leave until they are rebuilt

• Stables

A stable is required for every 10 knights you have, and if destroyed your knights will go on mercenary leave until they are rebuilt

• Market

Each additional market you build increases local trade and hence decreases the cost of extra commodities

Need a few more buildings... but not for the sake of it, they must have purpose

Units

Unskilled Workers (Peons)

• There is a limited amount of local mensfolk [peons]
• These can be trained into soldiers or skilled workers
• Peons can collect lumber
• Peons can mine stone
• Unassigned peons will

Skilled Workers

There are 3 types of skilled worker:

• Blacksmith

The number of blacksmiths affects how quickly you can train new works and soldiers (producing their weapons/tools) - however we will avoid the micro management trap here, weapons/tools production will be a per-unit thing e.g. 1 blacksmith allows X amount of archers or footsoldiers to be trained at a time, as opposed to other games where you have to produce horses, bows, swords *groan* keep it fun

• Carpenter

Affect the rate at which you may build normal structures. Also required for Masons and Blacksmiths to work - representing the smaller roles carpenters play in helping the other two skills

• Mason

Masons affect the rate at which your castle is constructed

Several rules govern the management of workers:

• You start with 1 carpenter and 1 blacksmith from the local village, additional workers must be trained
• Peons may be trained into skilled workers for a small fee
• You must pay your workers a wage in gold
• If you can not pay your workers, they leave
• Workers may not be retrained, only fired
• If you fire skilled workers they leave forever
• The number of blacksmiths and masons can not be more than double the number of carpenters
• If a siege is imminent, all workers will leave

Soldiers

There are 6 types of unit:

• Footsoldiers

Basic melee unit, good at hand to hand combat, difficult to route

• Elite Guard

Upgraded footsoldiers, stronger and may not be routed, but expensive to upkeep

• Archers

Basic ranged unit, easily routed when engaged in melee combat

• Rangers

Upgraded archers, better range and accuracy and better in melee combat

• Knights

Fast and strong unit, but expensive to upkeep

• Commander

Represents you, tough but if he dies you lose

Several rules gover the management of soldiers:

• You start with an initial force, allocated by your King
• Peons may be trained into soldiers or archers for a small fee
• Soldiers can also be hired from the King
• The more soldiers you hire from the King, the more expensive they get

"We are fighting a bloody campaign, we can not cheaply pass off our warriors to every needy cause!"

• Footsoldiers may be upgraded to Elite Guard for a small fee
• Archers may be upgraded to Rangers for a small fee
• A soldier may not be retrained or fired
• If you can not pay your soldiers they will go on mercenary leave for a month
• Skilled workers arrive from the local village which is off-map in one direction

Gameplay

There are three main game modes

Planning

At the beginning of every game month, you enter planning mode. Here you can plan contruction. Plans can be cancelled without cost.

Planning can only be at the start of every month due to the disorganisation and poor communication of the period.

Construction

Buildings are constructed and units hired according to the previous months plan. At any point between planning phases, construction may be interrupted by raiding parties.

Combat - Defend your Castle

"Sire, our enemy approaches. Deploy your forces!"

Before combat commences, you may place your units anywhere within your castle. Place them carefully for once combat has started, you can only order them to move elsewhere (placing flags at points you want defending) and they will take time to get there or may even be intercepted along the way.

"Defend the north wall, it has been breached sire!"

Timeline

• There is a finite amount of time before the enemy will attack you

"My Lord, the enemy has learnt of our construction and is amassing an army to attack us"!

• During construction you will attacked by small raiding parties dispatched by your enemy, and they will try to burn your buildings and kill your workers
• At some point in future development perhaps you may rebel against the King who then attacks you (probably part of castle building campaigns)