Einflussbereich

Nodes are pre-set locations, wrapped in a zone of influence (ZOI).

Every Node is given purview over a predefined geographic area called a Zone of Influence (ZoI). No matter where you go in the world, whether you’re questing, gathering, or raiding, you’ll be helping determine which nodes will develop, and what Zones of Influence will expand. Any area that a Node controls is considered its Zone of Influence, including Vassal Nodes, and all Vassal Nodes exist within the Zone of Influence of their Parent Node. – Margaret Krohn

Every node is given purview over a predefined geographic area called a Einflussbereich (ZOI). Player activity within the ZOI is weighted and counted toward a particular node’s advancement.

The main thing that differentiates us from other MMOs is that we have a living, breathing, reactive world... Our world is separated into zones, which are then separated into what we call nodes. Nodes are sort of invisible zones of influence that listen to everything that a player does; so as players gain experience from killing things, gain experience from doing quests, gain experience through crafting things, the node is also gaining that experience. Once a node gains enough experience it levels up and then starts to attract NPCs to it . – Jeffrey Bard

• By undertaking familiar activities, such as questing, gathering and raiding, players have agency in determining which nodes in the world will develop.

Each Node can form into towns, but are limited by their neighbors. The Nodes have different levels of advancement. There can only be so many of each level. Think of this as advanced settlements needing more elbow room. Nodes encompass more land as they grow and will require more effort to be sustained. This system is a main driver for change in the world because it creates scarcity. As Nodes advance in stages of growth they will lock out neighboring Nodes from progressing, and will absorb their zones of influence.

• Zones of influence connect fully across the world without any gaps.

There is not a space where you will move in to do something and no node will get that experience. – Steven Sharif

• Unterreich-Nodes and nodes directly above them are considered adjacent but do not exist in the same ZOI.
• Up to one fifth of the world will be encompassed within the ZOI of a Metropole. The many vassal nodes within a ZOI's "border" could end up looking like a country or nation.

Node-Stufen

Illustration of node advancement from Wildnis (Stufe 0) to Metropole (Stufe 6).

Nodes advance by collecting experience from the actions of players nearby. As players complete content inside of a Node’s Zone of Influence (the area around the node), they contribute that experience toward the Node’s development. The experience given to the Node may then be modified based on certain Events and Accomplishments. When a Node reaches the experience required, it undergoes the process of advancing to the next stage. There are a few exceptions where a Node cannot advance even though it has the required experience - most commonly, a Node can not advance if a Node is a Vassal of another Node and would advance to the same stage as its Parent Node. – Margaret Krohn

Nodes haben sieben (7) Entwicklungsstufen, mit Erfahrungsschwellen für jede Stufe. Sobald eine Node die benötigte Erfahrung (XP) für die aktuelle Stufe angesammelt hat, steigt sie zu der nächsten Stufe auf.

	Node-Stufe.	Symbol	Alternativer Name.	Benötigte Zeit für den Aufstieg.	Spielerbehausungen.
0.	Wildnis			-
1.	Expedition		Kreuzung	Wenige Stunden	-
2.	Feldlager		Lager	Viele Stunden	-
3.	Dorf		-	Wenige Tage	Kleine Häuser
4.	Stadt		-	Viele Tage	Mittelgroße Häuser
5.	Großstadt		-	Wenige Wochen	Große Häuser
6.	Metropole		Metro	Viele Wochen	Villen

Entwicklung der Node

Illustration der Knotenfortschritt von Expedition (Stufe 1) zur Metropole (Stufe 6).

Die Staatsbürgerschaft sowie Aktivitäten von Nicht-Staatsangehörigen Spielern (Aufträge, Sammeln, Raiding, etc.) innerhalb der Einflusszone eines Knotenpunkts zählt zu dieser speziellen Weiterentwicklung des Knotenpunkts (Fortschritt). Es gibt sechs Stufen der Weiterentwicklung des Knotenpunkts.

1. Expedition (Wenige Stunden)
2. Lager (Viele Stunden)
3. Dorf (Ein paar Tage)
4. Stadt (Viele Tage)
5. Großstadt (Wenige Wochen)
6. Metropole (Viele Wochen)

Konzeptionelle Illustration. Ein Knotenpunkt der sich im Einflussbereich eines fortgeschritteneren Knotenpunkts befinden, wird durch den fortgeschritteneren Knotenpunkt in seiner Entwicklung begrenzt.

Die Weiterentwicklung eines Knotenpunkts gibt seinen einzigartigen Inhalt frei, was einen wachsenden Ring an benachbarten Knotenpunkten vom Fortschritt auf die nächste Stufe ausschließt.

• Die Knotenpunkte gelangen schnell auf die erste Stufe. Dies ermöglicht Dienstleistungen von NSCs wie Verkauf oder Banknutzung zum Lagern von Gegenständen.
• Je weiter der Knotenpunkt fortgeschritten ist, desto größer wird seine Einflusszone.
• Weniger fortgeschrittene Knotenpunkte (genannt Vassalen Knotenpunkt), die in den Einflussbereich eines fortgeschritteneren Knotenpunkts fallen, können immer noch XP gewinnen, müssen aber in einem niedrigeren Fortschrittsstadium bleiben als das des dominanten Knotenpunkts.
• Ein Knotenpunkt erhält XP von den Knotenpunkten innerhalb seines Einflussbereichs erst, wenn diese Knotenpunkte ihre Obergrenze erreicht haben.
• Spieler werden in Sicherheit gebracht, wenn sie sich während des Ausbaus der Knotenpunkte mit neu angelegten Objekten überschneiden.
• Bürger eines Knotenpunkts können zur Weiterentwicklung anderer Knotenpunkte beitragen.
• Der genaue Prozentsatz des Fortschritts durch den Erhalt von Gegenständen oder das Töten von Monstern wird nicht explizit bekannt sein, um ein "Ausspielen" des Systems zu vermeiden.

Different people have different resources invested in nodes progressing and it would be a little "gamey" if you could know exactly what was necessary at that point because that would disincentivize people from participating. – Steven Sharif

Adjacent/Neighboring nodes

Angrenzende Nodes (Nachbar-Nodes) blockieren ab Node Stufe 1 (Expedition) das Wachstum ihrer direkten Nachbarn .

• Hierzu sind Tests während der Alpha-1 geplant.
• Vasallen-Nodes müssen immer mindestens eine Node-Stufe unter ihrer übergeordneten Node bleiben.

Vasallen-Nodes

Vassal node structure.

This vassal mode structure tells you what it looks like for a sovereign at a level six metropolis stage; and what it can control at a maximum vassal network is two level five nodes, of which a level five node can control one level four and one level three as direct vassals; and then the four can control a three; and every three can control a one or a two. Now if the three gets removed through siege, the one or the two is removed as well. So that's an important distinction between the three's vassals, which technically isn't really a vassal relationship because there's no citizenships possible. Those vassals don't exist between three and X, but they do exist between four and three, five and four, and six and five. And what this also allows is that because there are 85 nodes that are within the world, we have a buffer zone of about 20 nodes that lives in a max server state. So if you had maximum five metropolises form in a world, you will have a number about 20 nodes that can live alongside those metropolis networks; and when or if a metropolis falls, that extra cushion of nodes around the five metropolis structures allows for the map to be redistricted in a way that is unique. It doesn't mean that one of the fives is just going to pick up where the last six left off and form the same exact metropolis structure. From a territory perspective it has ancillary nodes to play with and expand towards that redistricts the map, so that if a metropolis falls there's a significant difference in the layout of the world and the layout of these almost nation-like territories. – Steven Sharif

Village (stage 3) or higher nodes enslave nearby nodes, converting them into vassal nodes.

• A Metropole (Stufe 6) can control up to two Großstadt (Stufe 5) nodes. A Großstadt (Stufe 5) can control one Stadt (Stufe 4) and one Dorf (Stufe 3) node. A Dorf (Stufe 3) can control an Feldlager (Stufe 2) or an Expedition (Stufe 1). If the Dorf (Stufe 3) gets destroyed through a siege, its "vassals" are also destroyed.
  • A vassal network can extend across seas and also include islands.

• Vassal nodes gain benefits from their sovereign node (parent node) even if the node type of the parent is different to the vassal.

It is not a bad thing to be vasseled, it is a good thing to be vasseled. It brings many benefits from the Sovereign, which is the the ultimate parent of that vassal network down to the vassal node itself; and it allows that vassal node to even live outside of its normal mechanics. You get to adopt some of the benefits that the node type of your sovereign is, even if your node type as a vassal node isn't the same. – Steven Sharif

• Sovereign nodes collect taxes from their vassal nodes. These taxes cannot be taken by the mayor or other players.

• Vassal nodes must remain at least one node stage below their parent node.
  • Neighboring/Adjacent nodes from Expedition (Stufe 1) upward block the growth of their immediate neighbors. This was intended to be tested in Alpha-1.
  • Vassal nodes first apply any experience earned to their own deficit (see Atrophie des Knotenpunkts). It then applies excess experience earned to its parent node.
  • If the parent node advances, the vassal is once again able to advance.

• Vassal nodes give excess experience to their parent node and may have their own vassals; so long as they fall within the parent node’s zone of influence.
  • If a node is capped and is both a vassal and has its own vassals, any experience earned from itself or its Vassals is first applied to its own deficit. Experience beyond that is then sent to its parent node.

When the vassal reaches its cap it overflows experience up to the parent; and so it can be very good early on for parents to get vassal nodes that are very productive- that have a lot of traffic. – Steven Sharif

• Vassals are subject to the government, alliances, wars, taxes, and trade of their parent node, and are able to receive federal aid from them.
• Vassal nodes cannot declare war on their parent node or any of their vassals.
• Citizens of vassals are bound by the diplomatic states of the parent node.

If a Node is a Vassal Node and is capped from advancing further, it first applies any experience earned to its own deficit (see Node Atrophy section), and then applies excess experience earned to its Parent Node. If the Parent Node advances and the Vassal is able to grow, it becomes uncapped. If a Node is capped and is both a Vassal and has its own Vassals, any experience earned from itself or its Vassals is first applied to their own deficit. Any experience beyond that is then sent to its Parent Node. – Margaret Krohn

Zonen und Entwicklung

Dungeon, Schlachtzüge, Weltbosse, Mobs, Aufträge, Events, Ressourcen, Narratives and other content within a node's ZOI will have a diverse level range; but will scale with the advancement of that node and its racial influence.

• Portions of the spawn tables (for mobs and resources) are static and other portions are dynamic and adapt to node development.

We don’t have a strictly level 25 zone. Instead, that zone might have some level 10 creatures near the road, some level 20 creatures deep in the forest, and some level 30 creatures up the mountain. These ratios will change based on the Nodes that inform them, becoming generally more dangerous as the Node grows. All this civilization attracts the attention of Things-That-Should-Not-Be. This does not mean that wilderness areas are safe, by any means. Some may be safe-er, but all will have dangers that even the most experienced traveler needs to watch out for. – Steven Sharif

World manager

The World manager is an algorithm in Ashes of Creation that controls dynamic world elements. It acts as both a throttle and an incentive system for various activities to ensure certain parameters are within acceptable thresholds.

A world manager is a technical term to define a server process that lives alongside the game server; and when the game server needs to do things- communicating with other game servers within that grid- it tells that manager and that manager sends it down to the appropriate server. – Steven Sharif

• Prices of hunting certificates.
• A heatmap of experience being gained to apply to node advancement.
  • The territory expansion algorithm takes into account the nearest coast, neighboring nodes, and the heatmap of players in surrounding areas over the last weeks or month.
  • Due to the way the progression algorithm calculates territorial (ZOI) expansion during node advancement, there is a small possibility that two nodes of the same stage end up being close to each other.
• Transit of resources and goods between regions to drive quest rewards for nodes.

For example if you know iron is being used as a raw resource for a specific crafting path that might drive up the price of mithril or silver; and that will incentivize the market to course correct a little bit. The idea is to provide soft incentives that help to alleviate the demand and also to prop up the supply that might not be present from the economic systems. – Steven Sharif

Unterreich-Nodes

Unterreich-Nodes and nodes directly above them are considered adjacent but do not exist in the same ZOI.

• There will be "bleed over" between underrealm nodes and surface nodes in terms of influence and interaction.
  • There may be visual cues above ground that indicate influence from underrealm nodes in that area.

That might be a little bit of a departure from our design in the past. I know originally you know like two-plus years ago we were discussing how those would be independent of each other, but I think as we further defined the layout of the world map itself you know it made more sense for those to have some interaction and influence that's combined. – Steven Sharif

• Caravan routes will go underground.
• Node-Belagerungen occur in the usual manner.
• There will be underrealm Metropolen.

Castle regions

Gildenschlösser influence a castle region around them.

• A castle's region is 1/5th the game world.
• Castle regions, Economic regions, and Node ZOI (Zones of Influence) can overlap.
  • A castle could have a metropolis beside it.
• Castle region boundaries are static.
• Guild castles impose a tax on all revenue for the nodes within its region.

Node simulation

Simulation of node interactions.

This representation does show 111 nodes as part of this particular simulation. I'm not sure what the tick frequency is on this video. It might be something on the magnitude of like every second is probably 12 to 24 hours. So over time you start seeing these larger node systems building up to eventually where you might see Cities and Metropolises after some period of time; and what this allows the design team to do from a tools perspective, as they simulate this idea of how the world is going to progress, is it gives an opportunity to kind of see strange happenings or something that we couldn't necessarily predict but was a possible outcome based on the variables present. – Steven Sharif

The developers have created a simulation of node interactions in preparation for Alpha-2 deployment of the node system.

• This simulates how nodes advance and expand their zones of influence over surrounding nodes.

You can show the initial territories on the Verran map of what these particular nodes have governance over, or their Zones of Influence as we like to call them... As the simulation of this begins to advance and nodes begin to expand their territory and they begin to take over nearby nodes as a result of their of their growth, you start to see these power level ratings that are applied here on specific nodes that determines what type of takeover power it has and and what it pushes back against for other nodes that are looking to take over new territory as they advance. – Steven Sharif

• It also simulates events, such as NPCs attacking and disabling certain node buildings and services. Failure to successfully respond to these will reduce the node's "health ticker", which will slow down the XP gains from the node.

It also simulates events: So each of these nodes will have a health ticker: when that health ticker is impacted it'll stop gaining power or gaining or slow down in its gaining of experience; and that's because certain events can affect a node by disabling certain services, disabling buildings. Players don't respond to that horde of zombies that have come out of the nearby ravine then those zombies can attack stables, they can attack service buildings, and prevent particular types of quests or activities and services from happening until it's repaired. – Steven Sharif

• Node-Belagerungen are simulated, with successful sieges destroying the nodes, and where unsuccessful sieges won't destroy the node but may result in disabled buildings or services, similar to events.

It simulates the sieges if a particular node has a certain frequency that's set where we want to see randomization of how nodes get affected by sieges. Sometimes they'll be destroyed in the simulation. Sometimes they'll have disabled services again, similar to an event, because they didn't succeed necessarily at sieging the node but they did succeed at disabling some of the buildings as part of that siege. – Steven Sharif

• It simulates what outcomes may happen in the live game as a result of player activity, such as splitting up a particular ZOI across a waterway, or having territories expand out to islands or across continents.

It simulates what players could potentially do as well when the game goes live; and that might include things like splitting up a particular Zone of Influence across a waterway, having your territory expand out to an island, or across continents. These are these are the types of things that we want to see players do eventually obviously but this tool provides the design team the opportunity to see it repetitively and over a fast period of time so they see these different types of outcomes. – Steven Sharif

Größe der Welt

1,200 km² (square kilometers) is the expected total world size of Verra at launch, including land (480 km²) and water/ocean (750 km²), but excluding the size of the Unterreich.

• This has increased from the previously stated total size of 480 km² including land and water/ocean; but excluding an additional ~100 km² of Unterreich.

• The reason given for expanding the map size was to better accommodate Zur See content and to reduce the overall content density in the world.

The purpose of it becoming bigger is as I said to make sure that density isn't overwhelming: that it isn't everywhere I look there is immediately something. I have no opportunity to see areas of the world that are expansive and are just kind of wanderlust adventure feeling. Everything was sitting on top of you, POIs and nodes and houses and everything. It was like an urban area everywhere. But we wanted to expand that because a large portion of the game is a sandbox element; it's coupled with a lot of curated content but it's that sandbox element. – Steven Sharif

• The shape of the continents has also changed and two new large islands have been introduced.

Siehe auch

• Weltkarte
• Nodes
• Unterreich