Good stuff Heskey and legitimate questions, I think I got the answers:
Problem with flat sum is that if you have 0 means of generating ressources without conquering fiefs, this is the most probable scenario:
you have 50% chance to die early on and no 2nd chance, and even more % if the round has lasted a few weeks/months (since successful players will have built most of the stuff possible). To remedy to that, the flat sum would need to be ridiculously high (enough to employ an average mercenary army) but I prefer to build a background where the player starts real low (1 troop, himself, and a few coins) so you can really feel the "leveling up", going from peasant to king of kings or king of thieves.
Also the problem with the "permadeath" is that, a player that goes toward the
"emperor" path will lead many armies and conquer many fiefs: if he dies in battle everything will go to ashes ?
I would prefer a Mount & Blade-esque way of losing :
you can be captured, released against money/stuff/things, robbed of all your belongings, but never killed.
AI "leaders" could be killed, but not the player. It is preferable that he stays virtually invulnerable. Anyway, in a video game, what hurts the most is having to go back to step 1, not really the death itself.
RP-wise it would be better to have a permadeath included but I will admit that I prefer to sacrifice roleplay over gameplay when it matters.
I like the idea of neutral fiefs too, but having them end up being loot points inside faction territory seems a bit strange :s and nothing then stops the faction itself just attacking the looters and bandits to gain whatever they've looted. Or if anyone can loot them wouldn't the big factions just camp them and loot them first?
I though about those fiefs because I want "special" locations where people with only a few mercenaries/bodyguards can steal stuff without having to battle against a formidable garrison.
I want the players that chooses the
"lone hero" path to enjoy the game as much as the others, so they need targets:
those targets needs to be affordable and beneficial enough to go up in "size" if they want to. Lets call it the Payday part of the game
In strategus, there is no real incentive to burn women and rape villages. Only a few targets are "beneficial" to attack (those with a lot of gold inside and little to no garrison), that is most sad for those that want action without having thousands of troops. We will remedy to that.
Fiefless lone heroes will also have many other advantages in terms of manpower... 3 lone heroes players can have as many combined army support than 1 average fiefdom, and they can conduct some missions, incognito, for other players.
About the factions being able to loot the looters, dont forget one thing. And this thing will dictate everything in the game : army support limit. You cant be everywhere, everytime, with infinite armies and troops protecting you. Even if you have enough money/food for that.
You can choose to allocate armies to protect your territory from bandits, but then you will have less armies to fend off invaders. You can choose to go on a recon mission, but then you will have less attacking armies ready. And so on and so on.
Basically, players wont be able to protect themselves from everything, whatever their size there shall always be a path to their heart.
