Field of Glory: Kingdoms - The Concept of Authority

[saraviga]

In Field of Glory: Kingdoms, Authority is the foundational concept of the game. It's pivotal as it truly is the "King's Maker" of any nation. With low Authority, your nation will regress and fall into civil war. In contrast, strong Authority ensures the loyalty of your subjects and often a smoother transition of rule when the time comes for your king to pass away.

Many players familiar with Field of Glory: Empires have encountered and played with the concepts of Culture and Decadence. They might think that Authority is just a variation of the same term, essentially being the same thing. While there are undeniable similarities in terms of outcomes - in both cases, this notion determines if your kingdom will prosper or collapse - the way the two concepts develop is entirely different. This dramatically impacts how the game unfolds. Furthermore, whereas in Empires, Culture and Decadence only played a role in the overall evolution of your nation, Authority in Kingdoms pervades every aspect of the game in a thoroughly organic and integrated manner.



Take, for instance, declarations of war. In Kingdoms, multiple factors are taken into account, such as having claims, if the opposing nation is of a different religion, or even if you're launching a sneak attack without warning. Depending on the perceived justification for this declaration of war, you'll either gain or lose Authority. For example, declaring war on a pagan nation with a declared claim on the capital won't cost you any Authority. On the other hand, a Christian state that whimsically decides to declare war on another Christian state will lead to a significant loss of Authority.



Authority also plays a role in managing your territories. An expansive kingdom will often struggle to maintain tight control over its most distant regions. Here, national-level Authority plays a crucial role in keeping the population under a firm grip, as well as the local nobility, and the presence (or absence) of buildings generating Stewardship.

To conclude with one more example of Authority's omnipresence in every aspect of the game: low Authority can tempt the characters of your nation to betray you. Each character now has a loyalty index and personal treasure. If they see an opportunity to replace a weak king, chances are things might go awry. Be especially wary of characters with several mercenary companies. These troops are powerful and quickly recruited, but they could easily be tempted into committing high treason.



This concludes our dev diary on Authority. We've only scratched the surface of all its intricacies and implications in the game, but there's so much more to discuss. Regardless, rest assured that this new concept provides a unique stamp on AGEOD's new production, Field of Glory: Kingdoms!

[76mm]

The main reason I stopped playing FoG-Empires pretty quickly was that I hated the system (I forget what is was called) that I kept getting random "missions" to complete, and if I failed to accomplish three of them I lost some other attribute and then empire would collapse.

IIRC these missions were all something like "Occupy province X by Turn Y", which was generally completely impossible under then existing conditions, or at least kept me from attempting any coherent strategy because I had to constantly respond to these mission demands.

This system completely ruined the game for me, does Kingdoms include anything remotely similar?
[EDIT] I see in the manual that "However, Authority is still used to compare with other factions and this has a similar dynamic in terms of gaining progress or negative tokens". Not sure how to interpret this wording...I don't have any problem with the concept of "Authority" but just hated how it was implemented in Empires.

[Surt]

Not that kind, if you want to develop to a specific kingdom, you need to control a specific region, Paris for France, London for England etc.
Byzant, who is the largest nation, needs to control some regions to get legacy quickly, but the timing is up to you.

[Pocus]

I see what you are referring to 76mm, it's the missions like they were given to Rome or Carthage. Only the Byzantines have them in Kingdoms, so you are safe to play 99% of the nations.

Although, is your memory fuzzy? Because missions were pure bonuses, i.e. even if you failed a Roman mission, the bad outcome was that ... nothing happened!

Or perhaps you are speaking of objectives given by the ruler, which would lead to gain one progress token if you achieved it? But here too, I went the "positive way", i.e. if you get it, good for you, if you don't, nothing happens.

So perhaps it was about Decadence (which is absent from Kingdoms).

Give Kingdoms a chance, you should not be disappointed. A nation like Castilla or Scotland should be rather safe.

[76mm]

Thanks, my memory is definitely fuzzy, it's been a few years since I played Empires. But I disliked the "token" system. But this game really appeals to me, I'll almost certainly pick it up.

[Pocus]

I need to tell you that we have kept the tokens ... It's a way to break into several steps your progress toward the next realm. It could have been a percentage but we decided to have 5 steps forward or backward. This is now tied on your Authority as a king and ruler.

[gribol]

As for me, for the time being, it is irritating to gain authority. The main source (for most of the game the only one) is having the right castle/kingdom type. Do these government buildings develop over the course of the game? How do you make this happen?
Why does a random state from Italy or Muslim Spain have more authority than Milan, Genoa or Wales?
I only gain authority by not losing it, based on the government building I have, which actually favours certain States from the start and condemns certain States to decadence, without any possibility of improving this situation.
I think there are a few things to think about here.

[Surt]

As I understand it, it is the Kings authority not the nations, some buildings increase the kings authority, mostly the tier advancement buildings (unlike in Empires where you had to build 3 of the same type to advance). Castles also gives some authority through events. Religious supremacy gives a bonus. Getting claims. Winning battles.

[eddieballgame]

I, actually, like the decadence/mission/token system in FoG Empires. Still one of my favorite games to date, as I am a fan of that time period's history..
It, also, fits the time period as a game mechanic, nicely...imho.

[Laboratorium]

Can anyone give a clear description:

Where someone gets Authority from (all sources).
How it is spend (all options)

And how it affects the aspects of the game, like income, loyality and so on.

With the above description is all vague and a key mechanic of a game should be explained in detail and just sad that it is a good mechanic that somehow affects aspects of the game.

By the way, I doubt that it can work as good a Decadence in making an interesting game.

[Surt]

Can anyone give a clear description:

Where someone gets Authority from (all sources).
How it is spend (all options)

And how it affects the aspects of the game, like income, loyality and so on.

With the above description is all vague and a key mechanic of a game should be explained in detail and just sad that it is a good mechanic that somehow affects aspects of the game.

By the way, I doubt that it can work as good a Decadence in making an interesting game.

The most important aspect of Auth is to have enough to get token so you can grow, remember the goal is Legacy to win.
Having high Auth also affects the loyalty of your regions, reducing unrest and rebellions.

Avoid losing battles, claims and SAUs, these cost Auth.
when making diplomatic deals and give away troops, you lose a small amount of Auth.
Auth can be spend directly on Edicts.
Some RGD cost some Auth too.
Use the Edits with care to not lower Auth too much, you don't want to fall out of the top, unless that juicy building appears that you just can't be without and you can't stop yourself from buying it!

[Laboratorium]

And where does it come from?

What are all the income sources for Authority in this game?

[Surt]

Its in the manual.

[Pocus]

See the tooltip in the top bar, Authority. All sources (income, expense) are traced systematically.