The Bandits of the Realm - Upcoming update for Warsim!
Hello everyone,
So I've been working on this update for the past week or so after having something similar on my to-do list and having had the general idea suggested a few times by players.
The idea is that new minor bandit gangs should spring up as other falls, while still allowing players to completely wipe bandits out and prevent respawning. This idea gave birth to the general bandit level system.
The idea of a background general level of banditry is that a world with a big bandit problem would have plenty of groups quickly fill any power vacuums when older groups died off, however a world where bandits have been repeatedly killed off and given little chance to recover would only rarely see new groups rise up. And of course for those mass-murderin' completionists you can eradicate the bandit threat for good if you push hard enough.
Read more about the general bandit level below, or scroll further down to see a fully documented playtest in action (with screenshots) showing how I took a test world from completely infested with bandits to bandits being completely extinct.
The general bandit level is a number that represents the level of banditry in the realm. there are 10 different tiers it can be at;
* Completely Infested (90+)
* Infested (80+)
* Endemic (70+)
* Many-Hordes (60+)
* Horde-Like (50+)
* Emergent (40+)
* Minor (30+)
* Very Minor (20+)
* Petty (10+)
* Near-Extinct (1+)
* Extinct (0)
These levels effect several things in game, firstly they affect the number of troops bandit groups recruit each year. In realms where the bandit level is extremely high minor bandit gangs and Phenor's Bandit horde will get up to an extra 3x bonus in number of recruits, and at extremely low levels of banditry they get half of their average recruits.
The level also effects the odds of both the bandit level increasing each year and the likelihood of new bandit gangs popping up to fill the void of old dead bandit gangs. If a realm is infested you will see new gangs spring up almost instantly to take their place, but with each group of bandits killed and certain laws passed the bandit level will drop.
It is possible to play with this feature in a number of ways, you can take a hardline stance against the bandits and wipe out any minor gang the moment they rise, capture all bandit forts and put anti-bandit laws in place such as the Bandit Scourge. Over time you will see this bandit level drop with the ability to push them to extinction. You may also just keep the bandits level at bay, crushing disobedient hostile bandit groups but ignoring other more compliant ones. You may also wish to leave the bandits to their own devices, this is especially effective if rival factions have more hatrid for bandits as this will thin them out with the constant fighting.
New bandit gangs don't just come out of thin air, there are 20 possible origins for these gangs, many of them only possible in certain scenarios. One bandit gang may be formed out of your own Bandit units, but this would only happen if you were a popular and kind ruler, if you were an evil and unpopular one the bandits wouldn't abandon you.
Another bandit gang could be formed of breakaways pulling directly from the Bandit Horde, the Blackmarket, the North Merc Post, Fort Northwatch, or any number of other bandit filled regions. Of course if those locations were destroyed or owned by you and missing their bandit garrisons, this wouldn't happen.
It's even possible for a mercenary group (as long as not under contract with you) turning to banditry, meaning they have the same leader and the same number of men, so keep an eye on those tough mercenary groups, and if you fill a mercenary group with 10'000 of your own soldiers and then fire the group, you'll bet there's a possibility that those 10'000 men could become nasty raiding bandits so be mindful.
I playtested setting the bandit level near it's max of 100 which is 'completely infested', from here I set out to completely wipe out the bandit population and reduce the bandit level to 0.
There were five minor bandit gangs at game start, two of them starting with a truce with me (that won't last). I went out and hired a tough mercenary group which had four attacks per year and very tough warriors with 120 battlescore each. I hired them and filled their ranks with all of my soldiers and then sent them to fight against the weakest minor bandits and invade their lands.
One of the groups fell pretty early and the bandit level was dropped by 3. Not long afterwards that same turn a second group fell knocking the bandit level down by another 3.
At the end of that turn the bandit level rose by 1 naturally, and a new group arose in the place of one of the dead ones. This group was called the Burgling Sons and was made of old deserters and runaways. Meanwhile one of the kingdoms in my game defeated a third minor bandit gang knocking the level down by another -3.
Next turn I focused my efforts on crushing this new bandit group first, with their defeat and another -3 bandit level this took the total to 87, and dropped it from Completely Infested to Infested.
With these many bandit gangs cut down I decided to focus my effort on the bandit horde and other bandit owned locations to reduce the total bandit level further.
After a lot of mercenary effort the bandit horde was on it's knees, with them gone the bandit level dropped a whopping 10 points as the bandit horde was a big and important part of bandit influence in the realm.
Now the problem has dropped down to being endemic, ended now are the times of huge recruitment bonuses for bandit factions, but the realm is still pretty bandit-filled, much more work to do.
The next turn the bandit level rose by 1, and two new bandit groups arose; one made up of hireable bandits from the Northern Merc Post (called the Unabashed Lobster Pillagers LOL), and the other a group of disgruntled peasants. I quickly set my sights on these newly spawned groups and looked to put them down.
With them both dead there were no active bandit gangs and the bandit level was reduced to 66, or 'Many Hordes'. We're getting somewhere but there's still work to be done.
I captured the Blackmarket knocking 3 more levels of banditry down, and captured Fort Northwatch for another 3 pointer.
At the end of that turn the bandit level rose by 1, and two more bandit groups sprang up. They were a group of robbers and outlaws called 'Green Scouts', and a mutiny of every bandit in my whole army who formed a new group called the 'Tall Association' the Bastards. I prepared to attack, hitting the mutineers first.
Now the bandit level was at 55, Horde-Like. Finally the bandit problem was falling under control and no active group bar the garrison of Fort Kullak were filling the power vacuum... But of course more came.
Opportunists from Fort Kullak split off and formed a new gang, weakening the garrison of the fort at the same time. There were only 115 of them and they were quickly cut down.
The next turn the bandit level rose again, and three new groups popped up to fill the void. One of these was a mercenary group called the Daylight Eagles who I'd contracted with in the past to fight against these bandit gangs... I trusted you.
These three new groups were quick to fall at the hands of my bulked up mercenary companies and soon the bandit level was looking even better at 45, now banditry was an emergent threat rather than a looming horde in the background.
Waiting 2 years a new bandit group made up of sea raiders landed, they were the United Sons. I crushed them, but now new bandit groups will be slower appearing due to the lower level I set to new ways to reduce their number, Laws.
I declared a bandit scourge and offered 5 gold per head for any bandit captured, this instantly lowered the bandit level by 2 and will further drop it by 1 each turn from now on. I also enacted the rehabilitation law costing me 1k per turn but helping reform those who may have chosen the way of the bandit. This also dropped the bandit level by 2 and would further drop it by 1 each year. Now with these expensive laws I could help bleed the bandit level down as time goes on.
After a few years and one or two pop up gangs being crushed the bandit level was now 'Very Minor' at 28, the end is near!
Another 10 years and three new groups and the bandit level was down to 14, or 'Petty'. Once the bandit level goes below 10 no new bandit groups can spawn and the bandit level can't naturally increase so unless you cancel some anti-bandit laws and close down your prison once it goes beyond that point the bandits aren't likely to return.
After another 5 years, on the year my anti-bandit laws dropped the bandit level to 9, 'Near-Extinct' would you believe it, two bandit gangs arise in the final moments. I put them down with my superior merc army and dropped the bandit level to 3.
Now with all the groups dead and no chance of any new ones spawning I'm left with only one option to root out the very final remnants of the bandit scourge on my realm. Using my spymaster I gain a new option to 'Attempt to root out the last remnants of banditry'
It was a success and my spymaster was able to find the last vestage of banditry, a small hidden group called the Nightfall Virgil, 339 bandits strong... They were short work for my men!
And that's it, bandits Extinct. There's still a group of bandits up in Fort Kullak but they are isolated, banditry in the realm in general is over.
While this is a fun little extra for the update, it's nothing game-changing. Now each bandit group will have their own troop image, a unique style for their troops. There are 121.5 million of these graphics in total so you'll never see the same one twice!
You can also play around with this in the extras and generators screen with a brand new random generation tool.
So it's very close to being finished but I still have a number of things I need to test and a couple of other features to look at, hopefully this update will be released some time this week.
Thank you all and hope you're all doing good and staying safe
Cheers
Huw
So I've been working on this update for the past week or so after having something similar on my to-do list and having had the general idea suggested a few times by players.
The idea is that new minor bandit gangs should spring up as other falls, while still allowing players to completely wipe bandits out and prevent respawning. This idea gave birth to the general bandit level system.
The idea of a background general level of banditry is that a world with a big bandit problem would have plenty of groups quickly fill any power vacuums when older groups died off, however a world where bandits have been repeatedly killed off and given little chance to recover would only rarely see new groups rise up. And of course for those mass-murderin' completionists you can eradicate the bandit threat for good if you push hard enough.
Read more about the general bandit level below, or scroll further down to see a fully documented playtest in action (with screenshots) showing how I took a test world from completely infested with bandits to bandits being completely extinct.
The General Bandit Level
The general bandit level is a number that represents the level of banditry in the realm. there are 10 different tiers it can be at;
* Completely Infested (90+)
* Infested (80+)
* Endemic (70+)
* Many-Hordes (60+)
* Horde-Like (50+)
* Emergent (40+)
* Minor (30+)
* Very Minor (20+)
* Petty (10+)
* Near-Extinct (1+)
* Extinct (0)
These levels effect several things in game, firstly they affect the number of troops bandit groups recruit each year. In realms where the bandit level is extremely high minor bandit gangs and Phenor's Bandit horde will get up to an extra 3x bonus in number of recruits, and at extremely low levels of banditry they get half of their average recruits.
The level also effects the odds of both the bandit level increasing each year and the likelihood of new bandit gangs popping up to fill the void of old dead bandit gangs. If a realm is infested you will see new gangs spring up almost instantly to take their place, but with each group of bandits killed and certain laws passed the bandit level will drop.
It is possible to play with this feature in a number of ways, you can take a hardline stance against the bandits and wipe out any minor gang the moment they rise, capture all bandit forts and put anti-bandit laws in place such as the Bandit Scourge. Over time you will see this bandit level drop with the ability to push them to extinction. You may also just keep the bandits level at bay, crushing disobedient hostile bandit groups but ignoring other more compliant ones. You may also wish to leave the bandits to their own devices, this is especially effective if rival factions have more hatrid for bandits as this will thin them out with the constant fighting.
New Bandit Gangs
New bandit gangs don't just come out of thin air, there are 20 possible origins for these gangs, many of them only possible in certain scenarios. One bandit gang may be formed out of your own Bandit units, but this would only happen if you were a popular and kind ruler, if you were an evil and unpopular one the bandits wouldn't abandon you.
Another bandit gang could be formed of breakaways pulling directly from the Bandit Horde, the Blackmarket, the North Merc Post, Fort Northwatch, or any number of other bandit filled regions. Of course if those locations were destroyed or owned by you and missing their bandit garrisons, this wouldn't happen.
It's even possible for a mercenary group (as long as not under contract with you) turning to banditry, meaning they have the same leader and the same number of men, so keep an eye on those tough mercenary groups, and if you fill a mercenary group with 10'000 of your own soldiers and then fire the group, you'll bet there's a possibility that those 10'000 men could become nasty raiding bandits so be mindful.
A Tale of a Playtest
I playtested setting the bandit level near it's max of 100 which is 'completely infested', from here I set out to completely wipe out the bandit population and reduce the bandit level to 0.
There were five minor bandit gangs at game start, two of them starting with a truce with me (that won't last). I went out and hired a tough mercenary group which had four attacks per year and very tough warriors with 120 battlescore each. I hired them and filled their ranks with all of my soldiers and then sent them to fight against the weakest minor bandits and invade their lands.
One of the groups fell pretty early and the bandit level was dropped by 3. Not long afterwards that same turn a second group fell knocking the bandit level down by another 3.
At the end of that turn the bandit level rose by 1 naturally, and a new group arose in the place of one of the dead ones. This group was called the Burgling Sons and was made of old deserters and runaways. Meanwhile one of the kingdoms in my game defeated a third minor bandit gang knocking the level down by another -3.
Next turn I focused my efforts on crushing this new bandit group first, with their defeat and another -3 bandit level this took the total to 87, and dropped it from Completely Infested to Infested.
With these many bandit gangs cut down I decided to focus my effort on the bandit horde and other bandit owned locations to reduce the total bandit level further.
After a lot of mercenary effort the bandit horde was on it's knees, with them gone the bandit level dropped a whopping 10 points as the bandit horde was a big and important part of bandit influence in the realm.
Now the problem has dropped down to being endemic, ended now are the times of huge recruitment bonuses for bandit factions, but the realm is still pretty bandit-filled, much more work to do.
The next turn the bandit level rose by 1, and two new bandit groups arose; one made up of hireable bandits from the Northern Merc Post (called the Unabashed Lobster Pillagers LOL), and the other a group of disgruntled peasants. I quickly set my sights on these newly spawned groups and looked to put them down.
With them both dead there were no active bandit gangs and the bandit level was reduced to 66, or 'Many Hordes'. We're getting somewhere but there's still work to be done.
I captured the Blackmarket knocking 3 more levels of banditry down, and captured Fort Northwatch for another 3 pointer.
At the end of that turn the bandit level rose by 1, and two more bandit groups sprang up. They were a group of robbers and outlaws called 'Green Scouts', and a mutiny of every bandit in my whole army who formed a new group called the 'Tall Association' the Bastards. I prepared to attack, hitting the mutineers first.
Now the bandit level was at 55, Horde-Like. Finally the bandit problem was falling under control and no active group bar the garrison of Fort Kullak were filling the power vacuum... But of course more came.
Opportunists from Fort Kullak split off and formed a new gang, weakening the garrison of the fort at the same time. There were only 115 of them and they were quickly cut down.
The next turn the bandit level rose again, and three new groups popped up to fill the void. One of these was a mercenary group called the Daylight Eagles who I'd contracted with in the past to fight against these bandit gangs... I trusted you.
These three new groups were quick to fall at the hands of my bulked up mercenary companies and soon the bandit level was looking even better at 45, now banditry was an emergent threat rather than a looming horde in the background.
Waiting 2 years a new bandit group made up of sea raiders landed, they were the United Sons. I crushed them, but now new bandit groups will be slower appearing due to the lower level I set to new ways to reduce their number, Laws.
I declared a bandit scourge and offered 5 gold per head for any bandit captured, this instantly lowered the bandit level by 2 and will further drop it by 1 each turn from now on. I also enacted the rehabilitation law costing me 1k per turn but helping reform those who may have chosen the way of the bandit. This also dropped the bandit level by 2 and would further drop it by 1 each year. Now with these expensive laws I could help bleed the bandit level down as time goes on.
After a few years and one or two pop up gangs being crushed the bandit level was now 'Very Minor' at 28, the end is near!
Another 10 years and three new groups and the bandit level was down to 14, or 'Petty'. Once the bandit level goes below 10 no new bandit groups can spawn and the bandit level can't naturally increase so unless you cancel some anti-bandit laws and close down your prison once it goes beyond that point the bandits aren't likely to return.
After another 5 years, on the year my anti-bandit laws dropped the bandit level to 9, 'Near-Extinct' would you believe it, two bandit gangs arise in the final moments. I put them down with my superior merc army and dropped the bandit level to 3.
Now with all the groups dead and no chance of any new ones spawning I'm left with only one option to root out the very final remnants of the bandit scourge on my realm. Using my spymaster I gain a new option to 'Attempt to root out the last remnants of banditry'
It was a success and my spymaster was able to find the last vestage of banditry, a small hidden group called the Nightfall Virgil, 339 bandits strong... They were short work for my men!
And that's it, bandits Extinct. There's still a group of bandits up in Fort Kullak but they are isolated, banditry in the realm in general is over.
121.5 Million New Bandit Graphics
While this is a fun little extra for the update, it's nothing game-changing. Now each bandit group will have their own troop image, a unique style for their troops. There are 121.5 million of these graphics in total so you'll never see the same one twice!
You can also play around with this in the extras and generators screen with a brand new random generation tool.
What's Left?
So it's very close to being finished but I still have a number of things I need to test and a couple of other features to look at, hopefully this update will be released some time this week.
Thank you all and hope you're all doing good and staying safe
Cheers
Huw