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Guilds, Clans, and Town Control

Design Goals

Social organization should matter economically and politically, not only for chat. Guilds and clans should coordinate expeditions, protect trade, and shape towns.

Guild and Clan Split

Recommended model:

  • Guild: large political and economic organization with treasury, ranks, and town ambitions.
  • Clan: smaller social or operational unit that can exist independently or under a guild umbrella.

Guild Features

  • ranks and permissions
  • treasury and tax income
  • guild storage
  • expedition scheduling
  • town project sponsorship
  • archive of maps and monster reports

Town Control Model

Town control should come from sustained influence, service, and conflict windows rather than open griefing.

Dynamic events should be one of the main ways towns feel contested and reactive between control windows.

Contributors to control could include:

  • completed contracts for the town
  • supply deliveries during shortages
  • militia support
  • caravan protection
  • project investment
  • scheduled conflict victories
  • successful response to town and regional events

Influence Score Model

Each town should keep a rolling 14-day influence ledger per guild. Influence should come from useful service to the town, not only from combat wins.

Recommended contribution weights:

  • completed town contracts: low but steady influence
  • shortage deliveries: medium influence, multiplied by current reserve deficit
  • public works investment: medium-high influence, capped by real project need
  • militia and escort support: medium influence, multiplied by security pressure
  • local event participation: high influence during active crises
  • scheduled control-window victories: very high influence, but only during the scheduled window

Resolve each entry as:

effective_influence = raw_influence × town_need_multiplier × outcome_quality_multiplier × anti_monopoly_modifier

Rules:

  • repeated low-value turn-ins from the same guild should suffer daily diminishing returns
  • influence older than 14 days should fall out of the active score window
  • the controlling guild should take a maintenance penalty when the town stays in failing reserve bands and it does not respond

Control States

Use explicit control states so the UI and permission system stay legible.

  • open: no guild meets the controller threshold
  • leading: one guild is ahead, but no control window has confirmed rule rights yet
  • contested: at least two guilds are within 15% of each other or a control window is active
  • controlled: one guild won the latest control window and remains above the maintenance floor
  • destabilized: the controller kept power on paper but lost civic stability; challengers gain bonus pressure next window

The controller threshold should scale with town population and prosperity so frontier hamlets are easier to lead than rich regional hubs.

Taxation Rules

Taxes should be visible, capped, and delayed before taking effect.

Tax targets can include:

  • market fees
  • auction fees
  • storage fees
  • caravan tolls

Town rulers should not be able to confiscate private inventories or set instant abusive taxes.

Recommended caps:

  • market fees: 0-8%
  • auction fees: 0-10%
  • storage fees: 0-5% per billing cycle
  • caravan tolls: 0-6%

Additional guardrails:

  • tax changes take effect after 24 hours
  • each category can move only one band per delay window
  • pending tax changes must be publicly visible before activation
  • emergency events do not permit temporary tax bypass

Treasury and Civic Reserve

Town control should not be pure extraction. Recommended rule:

  • at least 35% of collected town tax should flow into a locked town_civic_reserve
  • civic reserve funds militia upkeep, emergency contracts, and public works
  • only the remaining share can move into guild treasury according to guild permissions

This keeps town prosperity and guild wealth linked without letting rulers starve the town for short-term gain.

Public Works

Controlled towns should expose public works decisions such as:

  • prioritize granary expansion
  • fund walls and militia
  • subsidize public kitchens
  • improve market hall
  • sponsor shrine healing or mage services

This makes town control a systems choice, not only a badge.

Public works choices should also affect future event weights. Better wells reduce drought pressure, stronger walls reduce raid severity, and public kitchens soften food-crisis events.

Public Works Governance

Use explicit slots and priorities.

  • 1 major public work slot and 2 minor slots per town is enough for readable choices
  • emergency reserve failures can temporarily override the queue with well, granary, wall-repair, or infirmary work
  • every work should list its reserve draws, upkeep cost, completion effect, and linked event-weight modifiers
  • completed works should write directly into town formulas, not only flavor text

Examples:

  • granary: higher food storage cap and lower spoilage
  • well network: stronger water floor and lower drought pressure
  • walls: higher security buffer and lower raid severity
  • market hall: higher liquidity and contract volume

Scheduled Conflict

Town contests should happen in predictable windows using async-friendly contribution systems, contract pushes, supply races, and targeted mission chains. Avoid forcing constant live siege attendance.

Scheduled Control Windows

Every town should expose predictable async control windows rather than permanent open conflict.

Recommended structure:

  • 2 recurring windows per week per town
  • only guilds above the challenger threshold can score control-window influence
  • window scoring should come from contract pushes, escort success, militia response, public works turn-ins, and targeted mission chains
  • the highest total after the window gains or retains control rights until the next eligible challenge

This keeps town conflict competitive without requiring a live siege.

Controller Responsibilities

A controlling guild should gain privileges, but also inherit obligations.

  • failing to fund upkeep on active public works should reduce control stability
  • leaving 2 or more reserve classes in failing for multiple daily ticks should apply control decay
  • losing repeated emergency event responses should reduce militia legitimacy and town support
  • low-tax, high-service governance should improve passive influence retention

Technical Model

Core Records

Store:

  • guild
  • guild_member
  • guild_rank_permission
  • guild_treasury_ledger
  • clan
  • town_influence_score
  • town_influence_ledger
  • town_policy
  • public_work_vote
  • town_control_window
  • town_tax_policy_history
  • town_civic_reserve
  • town_public_work_slot

Governance Coordinators

Use one guild coordinator for treasury and permission-sensitive actions, and one town governance coordinator for policies, tax changes, and control-state transitions.

Guardrails

Require:

  • policy delay windows
  • tax caps
  • audit logs
  • officer permission checks
  • cooldowns on leadership-sensitive actions
  • challenger catch-up advantage when a controller is destabilized
  • town supply simulation
  • markets and taxes
  • player contracts and logistics
  • exploration archives and monster intel