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Hello,
First of all thanks for posting again weekly spotlight threads, it is a really enjoying thing.
I have some questions about strategy of some realms.

- Ariselle and Azure islands: They are realms based on the sea warfare, I would want to know the main difference among these realms. I guess that Ariselle domain the world using commerce and punishing their foes with raids whereas pirates of Azure islands base his wealth on raids.

- Khazod and Iron Barony: I suppose that the orcish realms base his power on the infantry but what is the difference on the gameplay?. We know that Iron barony is a realm that base his strategy on spam lots of orcs and since They have the expendable perk They can attack again and again, but what about Khazod? Do They base his strategy on elite orcish infantry?. I'm very curious about this realm cause is surrounded in all his borders with foes (Hadrigel is specially dangerous I think). How can survive Khazod with that difficult initial situation area?. Do exist more orcish realms?.

- Maledor: is a realm that want to create an army of undead, but how can they do that? In a deffensive war the have the Keshite catacombs but they have to risk their capital to do that, with necromancer hero they can use the necropolis card for a attack/defense strategy but you need to have a legendary necromarcer fot that, and with the level 5 spell thay can create five skeletons. My question is if the necromarcers units can create also undeads.

- Ice spire: it is a small realm (only two provinces) and without landmarks. How can they survive to attacks of the hordes of Vessoi and Jotland? They have a strong units and magic to do that (since their leadar is a witch)? or they can become allies of one of these barbarians realms?.

- Undead empires: at this moment we have seen three realms with undead support, but the undead units are unique (wraith of the darkwood, the worm and drowned of the deeps), the undead units are powerful enought to be unics?. How many realms also can reach undead units?.Palemor armies is based totally on undead units?. Can you describe a bit the mechanic of the plague?. And a final question, Ravengard's leader is a vampire?.

- Giant realm: this realm is surrounded by Iron Barony, do They have to fight versus the orcs or can be allies? I mean, the giants can sign a pass throught orcs territory pact?.

My last question, if sovereignty had good sales would you think about doing expansions? For example setting the plot when the Bpruvian empire was the great power or even before the arrival of the humans to the world.

Sorry for asking all these questions, but I'm really interested in your game, you have put lots of details and charm on the plot of sovereignty.
Thank you Breca ina dvance for your attention.

Salutes.

Ariselle and the Azure Isles: Both are island naval powers and because of this are difficult to invade. Ariselle is a Good-aligned Human realm, and is probably the strongest diplomatic power. It can support up to 5 allies and 5 Ambassadors. It also has powerful trade. In contrast, the Azure Isles is an evil pirate realm that can trade in contraband, and can raid ill-defended coastlines. However, its units are not as well-suited for traditional conquest and expansion. Ariselle is one of the Great Powers of the world. The Azure Isles is one of the Minor Powers. Interestingly, powerful and "good" Ariselle has a Gentleman's Agreement with the "evil" Azure Isles. Though Ariselle will never formally ally with Azure Isles, so long as they keep out of each other's business, Ariselle will allow "evil" Azure Isles a free hand to counterbalance the various land powers.

Khazoth and the Iron Barony: Both are orcish realms, but they have very different play-styles. The Iron Barony is a large sprawling realm. Its units are typically unreliable, and its general tactics revolve around throwing masses against the enemy. The Expendable perk grants the owner the purchase price of the unit, if it is slain. This means that the owner can willingly throw masses against their foes, see them die, and allow the war machine to keep churning out replacements. Khazoth follows another philosophy entirely. It weeds out its own weak in order to produce a stronger, more brutal, and more cunning orc. The orcs of Khazoth are blood-thirsty and strong, but their numbers are not as easily replaced. They are also a smaller realm and are likewise vulnerable among hostile neighbors. Militant Hadrigel is probably its greatest foe, but Hadrigel faces numerous foes of its own. Hadrigel is beset on all sides. Myrmont, Khazoth and Sirucil all view Hadrigel as their greatest foe, and the wars among them are numerous. Khazoth in turn views the miners and prospectors of Cragenwaste as fresh meat...so long as Khazoth can hold against the threat from the South.

Maledor: Some changes are scheduled Maledor (particularly the Keshite Catacombs), though that will probably hit during beta, and you are correct, the current Keshite Catacombs ability is exceedingly limited. The new ability is as follows: KESHITE CATACOMBS: (This power is in effect only if Netherwell is owned by Maledor.) If Maledor wins any battle in which it is the defender, any non-Undead units slain in that battle are raised as Zombies in the owner's production pool at the beginning of Maledor's next campaign Turn.

Icespire: Though Icespire is surrounded by barbarians, it is very much an isolationist state. The barbarians tend to view Icespire with great superstition and are likely to look elsewhere for conquest. Second, Icespire is very good at defending itself within its thick forests. Its combination of units with the Forester perk, inexpensive Garrison units, and forest-oriented spells makes it rather fun, cutting up the barbarians foolish enough to invade the realm of the Winter Witch.

Undead Empires: Only Palemoor can truly be considered an Undead realm. All of its core units are Undead. Maledor is instead a human "cult of death" that can raise undead through magic, but is otherwise a repugnant human cult. The Azure Isles can also raise a single Drowned of the Deep unit, though it too is essentially a human realm.

The Plague has a small chance to spontaneously erupt in provinces that have been damaged through war or magic. Once the Plague erupts, it has a chance to spread to neighboring provinces. In general, damaged provinces are more vulnerable to the spread. Plains, Wasteland and especially Swamp are also more vulnerable to the spread. Eventually, the Plague has a way of expending itself. The best defense against the plague is to keep your provinces happy and healthy: repair damage as soon as you can.

Ravengard at this time does not have a Vampire lord. But I think it could use one...

Cloudfels: land of the giants. This is another small and typically isolationist state. If it wants to expand, it needs to carve its way through the orcs first.

Expansions: follow the demand. Sovereignty is a brand new IP. If people love it, we'll build more.


Good Hunting!

Breca

The game concept reminds me a bit of the old board game "Divine Right". Ex.,large campaigning areas(kingdoms), hex based movement and counters. The written desriptive history of the various realms was also nice. Of course, "Soverignty" will be a deeper and more complicated game, though I fondly remember many play throughs of the old boardgame mentioned. Was "Divine Right" an initial spark in the thought and development of "Soverignty"? Look forward to it.
Regards, Russ

Fantasy fiction--whether that's crafting a game world or writing a novel--best draws from historical inspiration, re-written, re-worked, spun into something new. That's what we set out to do from the start: to create a rich campaign world setting. Pull back the veil of magic and dragons, and you may find shades of the last centuries of Europe.

I never played Divine Right, though it looks wonderful.

Games that have influenced Sovereignty to varying degrees: Master of Magic, Magic the Gathering, Risk, Panzer General, Clash of Steel, Sacred 2. Among them all though, the biggest influence was probably Birthright.

When we built Sovereignty, we wanted a world in which you could choose one realm among many, and with that choice, feel bound to its peoples' trials, their desires, their hates and their hopes. That's easy to do with "good" realms. But "evil" realms in Sovereignty are often complex. To the outside world, they may seem harsh and cruel, but they often harbor deep wounds of their own and seek to right the offenses committed against them. The world is not so simple when viewed through a different lens.

Good Hunting!

Breca

Interesting reply Breca. I'm not sure how I missed "Birthright" those many years ago. That may have been my "Civ" phase. Haha I can see the resemblance with it and the other games. Today, myself and the family return to "Universal Studios", Orlando and my old man legs take another pounding! I look forward to asking a question or two when I return. Thanks for the reply.
Regards, Russ

I was looking at a youplay of Birthright and I wonder how I never heard of it before.It does look similar to this game.

I remember Birthright as well and I loved it. I could recruit my peasants and soldiers, the combat was I remember in kind of "lanes" where you could move your squads (green bars) around. However something made me stop playing that game but I can't recollect why.