FAQs

Factions

What are factions?
T8 introduces Factions. When you leave Welcome Island, you must decide which you belong to. This will affect where you start.

Do I have to choose a faction or be involved in faction game-play?
Yes, you have to choose a faction to leave Welcome Island. No, you do not have to be involved in faction game-play beyond the above "super simple explanation" above. When you are not learning technologies, you will not interact with the faction system at all. If you are concerned about not having "region" chats, form a guild of your neighbors to get a neighborhood chat.

How does tech knowledge transfer when a faction earns the loyalty of a Uni that has a previously unknown tech?
As in previous tales, techs are researched in specific universities and these unis have very strict security rules. If a faction earns the loyalty of a uni that has a tech the faction did not previously know, as long as the that uni is loyal to the faction, members of the faction can go to that uni and learn the tech. If the faction loses control of the Uni, then members of the faction can no longer learn the tech at that uni. of course, they can share their knowledge with anyone on a one-on-one basis, and they can independently research the tech if they put in the required effort.

What does it mean to be kicked out of a faction?
Elders can remove any player from a faction without cause, including other Elders. Once a player has been removed, that players becomes a Desert Nomad.

How do I change factions?
To change factions, a player must be invited by an Elder into a different faction.

Regions

What about regions? How do they interact with factions?

There are 50 regions, covering the entirety of Egypt. Each faction starts in a different part of the map. Each faction is based in 3 regions, aka their "home regions". When your faction "controls" a region (including the first 3 that are always loyal to the faction), your factional chat extends to cover that region. If you are in that faction, and you're in a region that your faction controls, you get your chat tab. If you're not, its akin to Hinterlands.

So, ahead of beta, you might want to decide which faction you are in.

Meshwesh in the north
Kush in the south
Hyksos in the middle

Elders

Who are Elders and what can they do?

Test of the Demi-Pharaoh is replaced with Test of the Elder. You elect elders for your faction, so in one viewpoint, its 3x DP elections happening concurrently. My (Malard's) viewpoint on the above mechanic: DP has not been used. This mechanic change is intended to get players to use the kick feature if someone is a cock. Elders can kick other Elders.

Elders have a two powers:
- An Elder can kick someone from a faction, making the kicked player a Nomad. Elders can also invite players from other factions, as well as Nomads. Each Elder gets 8 total uses of their power (invite and/or kick).
- Elders choose which "modifier" a faction will research each month. More information below.

Elders are elected by members of a faction.

Technologies

Have the way universities work changed?

Yes and No. I want to stress there is still the same total number of unis available for each player that there is in T7. Universities are loyal to specific factions, and each faction has one complete set of Unis in its home regions which is eternally loyal to the faction. You cannot learn techs from universities which your faction does not control.

I am interested in unlocking technologies and making sure my regional guild has ALL technologies unlocked. How can I help?

Usually, there is only one way to get access to technologies--someone has to unlock the tech at a Uni. In T8, there is an additional way: your regional guild, that is, your faction can earn the loyalty of the scientists at a university, compelling the scientists to stop working with a different regional guild. If your faction is successful at earning the loyalty of the scientists, then all members of that regional guild will have access to techs previously unlocked at that university--and members of the regional guild that originally unlocked the tech, will lose access unless THEY can earn back the loyalty of the scientists. If you just want to learn techs and get on with your life, ignore this paragraph and read the example in the first section above. If other regional guilds unlock techs, how can I learn those techs? You can either learn the techs from someone who has made the run to learn that tech (and belongs to the regional guild that controls the region the university is in), or you can wait until those who like unlocking technologies in your regional guild unlock the tech. If you like unlocking technologies, you are welcome to put in the effort.

The more Unis you control, the cheaper research becomes. There are 13 capture-able unis across the map for each discipline (worship, art, leadership, etc). Unis remember what they have learned, so if you capture another faction's Uni, and they had unlocked something you hadn't, you can go and learn it from that Uni. But you will still need to discover it properly before you can unlock the next branch.

How does tech knowledge transfer when a faction earns the loyalty of a Uni that has a previously unknown tech?

As in previous tales, techs are researched in specific universities and these unis have very strict security rules. If a faction earns the loyalty of a uni that has a tech the faction did not previously know, as long as the that uni is loyal to the faction, members of the faction can go to that uni and learn the tech. If the faction loses control of the Uni, then members of the faction can no longer learn the tech at that uni. of course, they can share their knowledge with anyone on a one-on-one basis, and they can independently research the tech if they put in the required effort.

Will all Unis in a faction know everything that faction knows, and therefore if any Uni changes hands, the faction which gets the Uni will know at least as much as the one it captures the U from?

Correct. Consider that Unis are one-way stores of knowledge. They won't propagate the knowledge to other Unis, but when a tech unlocks for a faction, all Unis controlled at that moment get a copy of the tech. A Uni will resync its tech, so if the faction knows something that the Uni does not know, it will get updated at that time also. But if it flip flops between a couple of factions, it will slowly have a mixture of the techs that both factions know. So the factions can cycle one Uni of each type, then that will keep the faction's tech trees synched. But only for that Uni.

What happens when a faction loses all Unis which know about a given tech?

It can't. It always has a home Uni, which cannot be captured.

Let's say Kush has 3 Universities (X, Y and Z), and researches A, B and C. And let's say Meshwesh has 1 University (M) and researches no techs. Unis (X, Y, Z) know techs (A, B, C) and M knows nothing. Now lets assume Meshwesh captures Z. Meshwesh now knows A, B, and C. Then Kush recaptures Z. M still knows nothing, right? And does Meshwesh still have access to A, B, C?

Meshwesh does not know A, B and C, but only the Uni they captured knew it, so Meshwesh citizens could learn A B and C while they controlled Z. But Meshwesh as a faction, doesn't know A B and C, and still needs to discover it, at which point M will know A B and C

Note: One meta strategy I have considered is that as a faction, you might decide to unlock Tech X from University of Architecture. Tech X requires resources that only a few players are good at making (say alloys) but the rest of the faction could contribute, by capturing all the regions that contain a University of Architecture, thereby LOWERING the total amount of alloys needed to discover the tech. By proxy, they have contributed to the tech unlock.

Is information about who contributes to tributes (that is, earning loyalty of unis for your faction) public?

No, you can not see who gave what. You can only see a number for how much a regional guild has put into convincing the scientists.

How often can Unis change hands?

Weekly. Tributes are calculated once per earth week.

Tell me more about the competition between a faction that has a uni and a second faction trying to gain loyalty of that same uni.

1. Well, the "competition" matters on the region the uni is in. In regions that are not highly contested, giving a single item as tribute might tip the scale in one faction's favor. In highly contested regions, gaining the loyalty of the uni will require more effort.
2. If there is a tie in tribute, the defending factor has the advantage.
3. The more regions a faction controls, the harder it is for the faction to gain more. So a faction that controls no regions has a much easier task of gaining control of the faction.

What are tributes?

Tributes are donations to a region in an attempt to gain the loyalty of the unis in that region. Each (earth) week, tributes reset (CONFIRM?) and players in each faction have the opportunity to donate to earn loyalty for the region they want control of. What is the difference between a faction gaining control of a region and earning the loyalty of a uni? No difference. These are two different ways of saying the same thing: a faction offers tribute to gain control/loyalty of a region's universities. The tribute required by region A will be different than the one required by region B. The tributes will also change between week one and two.

What are home regions, again?

Home regions are the three regions per faction that the faction is based in. The unis in these regions are eternally loyal to a single faction. Donations to unlock techs are held at these unis. Once a tech is unlocked by a faction, the tech can be learned at any uni loyal to the faction at the time. Think of these unis as Central Unis (like the central bank of a country versus other banks in the country). These unis keep track of all techs unlocked by the faction and propagate that information to other unis currently loyal to the faction. Also, all the unis in Egypt are not in your home regions. Many unis are neutral in the beginning, until you capture the region. When you capture it, you can learn anything it knows.

I heard something about faction-specific "modifiers" Wut?

In previous tales, each Egypt region had to unlock techs by progressing down a tech tree that was identical for all regions. In Tale 8, each faction has its own tech tree. These trees are identical but in two ways.

1) The tech trees are almost identical, how you unlock the techs in the tree might vary from faction to faction. These will be the same techs we are used to unlocking through research.
2) as the techs become more advance, you get a few faction-specific modifiers. Note these modifiers are not as big in scope as techs. These modifiers are "minor perks ... they are not meant to cripple you if you dont have them"--Malard (Discord). This is seperate and new from the techs that we have been used to.

An example might be the following. Tech: Viticulture tech unlocks buildings and access to growing vines for wine. Faction-specific modifiers: Grapes grow 1% faster.

I must layer on, there is more than just the normal Unis. There is a faction-specific Uni, with faction specific modifications or mods. Elders decide which mod you can work on each month, and over the course of the game, each faction will become more diverse. The mods will need to be donated to and unlocked, like techs. So for example, chariot frequency is a tiered mod. You can only advance it once per month, at the exclusion of other mods. So you could end up pushing hard and having a faction that is really efficient at using chariot stops. But another faction is really good at test unlock speed, i.e. the time between when the timer starts and ends. Those are not learned--you inherit them for being in the faction. Make sure your elders pick wisely :smiley: consider there are 18 possible advancements in the faction tree. These are minor modifications. They are not meant to cripple you if you don't have them. The mod trees are identical, but how you unlock them is not. Also, it is not possible for one faction to unlock all of them. The Elders must choose wisely. If you're slow about it, you could lose an unlock period. If it takes you 2 months to unlock, then you've lost one of your mods. They will range from raft sailing distance, to chariot speed, to slightly better quality of items produced on an anvil

Can you learn, get kicked, join a new faction and teach those techs?

You don't need to leave to teach someone else, but your faction's rating will go down, more on that later. You can only learn from Unis that are in your faction. So if you are a Nomad, that's an end to your tech learning ability. Being a Nomad is effectively being kicked from the game. (It only applies to Unis. Schools are neutral.)

Just to be clear, except for geographic position, any special things about the factions?

Nothing relevant to normal play. This system is meant to augment how Tale works now. It is not altering every system, but this is designed to address the tech tree rush and the use of ET over regional chat, and create a meta game that can be played in the background. So, even if you don't want to be involved in donations for techs, you can help by earning the loyalty of regions for your faction. The regions really are just now used to denote factional territorial control.

The only thing I CANNOT do in another faction's region is learn their techs? And hear the faction chat?

Correct. Well, depends what laws you pass, as a faction. 90% of this mechanic change is a layer on top of the existing game. Faction selection is important, but no different than if you were in LoR or OE. Guilds still exist. You could have a guild across factions. More Elders can be elected, but how often is not yet disclosed.

Tell me more about ... Chat channels

If your faction controls the region you are standing in, you will see your faction chat channel. If you want to guarantee that your faction chat never goes away when you're at home, there is one obvious way to make it happen. (Live in one of the three areas permanently controlled by your faction)

Tell me more about ... earning the loyalty of a region: Tributes are calculated once a week (seven earth days), and tributes change once a week. Tributes are different per region as well. If the region is not contested, you could win it by adding just 1 resource to the scales. If there is a tie, the defender wins the tie. A Uni loyal to your faction can teach you anything your faction has researched plus any additional techs it picked up while in other factions

So, here is the big twist I guess: the more regions you control, the harder it is to capture additional regions. To hold all 41 regions in one faction, would be very difficult and expensive, as your donations are valued less. if you control no regions, your donations are more valuable.

What happens if a Uni changes factions when some donations have been made to it?

The (faction's) home region Uni holds ALL donations. All other Unis are proxies. You can donate into any Uni (that you control) and it syncs it with the master donation list. You do not need to set up a camp around a specific Uni if you don't want to.

Is it safe to assume that an Invite is not a steal, and the Invited party needs to accept to join a different faction? Also, assuming it has to be accepted, is the Invite "lost" if the invited player rejects the invitation? Obviously a Kick is a unilateral decision on the part of an Elder

Correct, an invite is just that, however it is considered USED even if it is not accepted

if you're in another faction's controlled area, do you see their chat?

No. That would defeat the whole purpose of faction wide chat.