BatMUD Regions: Player's Handbook v1.0

Sirdar Silverfang

09-01-2008


Table of Contents

1. Regions and Castles
Overview
Castle rooms
The yard
The entrance
The observation tower
The office
2. Forming a domain
3. The castle garrison
Overview
The senior officer ranks
General
Lt. General
Colonel
Lt. Colonel
The junior officer ranks
Major
Captain
1st Lieutenant
2nd Lieutenant
The non-commissioned officer (NCO) ranks
Sergeant Major
Sergeant
Corporal
The enlisted troops
Private
Recruit
4. Acquiring control of a castle
5. Commands
General commands
'census'
'conquest'
'resign'
'roster'
'ranks'
The yard
'siege'
'enter'
'yell *'
'application'
The entrance
'claim'
'routes'
'caravan *'
'leave'
'office'
The observation tower
'view'
'observe'
'siegetime'
'yard'
'yell *'
'archers'
'cauldrons'
'catapult'
'deploy'
'alert'
'battleorder'
The office
'treasury'
'withdraw'
'manifest'
'buy'
'deposit'
'setowner'
'hire'
'fire'
'deploy'
'garrison'
'alert'
'battleorder'
'savegarrison'
'applicants'
'accept'
'reject'
'promote'
'demote'
'position'
'discharge'
'capital'
6. Objectives
7. Joining a player garrison
A. Rules of engagement (RoE) for regions
§1 - Don't mix regions with non-regions gameplay
§2 - Repelling your attackers
§3 - Causing permanent damage in regions play
§4 - Allies in defending or conquering
§5 - Commanding several castles
§6 - Completing the Conquer quests

Chapter 1. Regions and Castles

The regions are a PvP (Player-versus-Player) element in BatMUD, which pits racial factions in a struggle to control key locations on the five major continents. The controlling races gain access to the castles, harvesting them for production of gold and experience.

Overview

Castles are the basic units of the regions play. There are a total of 102 castles in scattered between the five continents. Each castle forms a territory called region, by which the landmass of the BatWorld is shared to their respective landowners. Simply put, castles are central landmarks for regions, and each contains the necessary governing personnel over the land contained within that specific region.

First we will look at what role the castle has over a region. Basically, the royalty owns the land that is the region. The peasants settle in on that land, and agree to rent the land from the region landlord for farming and other production purposes. Using this land, the peasants then produce goods, and from these goods they get profit. The aforementioned rent price, combined with the profit of the peasants forms the base of the tax, which is collected by the castle officials four times a year, and is stored into the castle treasury. In addition to the permission to use the land for a price, the region landlord provides the peasants protection using his garrison.

Castle rooms

Each castle consists of four rooms, the yard, entrance, tower and the office.

The yard

The yard is open for everyone, and you end up there by entering the scenic location you see on the map. In the yard you see the castle gates. Also, by looking the plaque in the yard you'll see some basic commands that are available for the visitor. More about these, and other castle commands later. At the other side of the gates is the entrance room.

The entrance

The entrance room is from where the caravans head off to other castles. Any player who is a member of the castle garrison may travel with these caravans to other castles. From the entrance room you may go up, or in the office. By going up, you end up into the observation tower. A castle under siege can be brought under the leadership of the sieging party from this room.

The observation tower

The observation tower has all functionalities that are needed during battle, or general observation of the events at the yard. You can negotiate, fire arrows and oil at the intruders, for example. You can also use the castle catapult to fend off any campers at a limited range outside the scenic location of the castle.

The office

The office is the planning and economy room of the castle. You have access to the castle treasury (the tax income), and may use it to your own benefit, to recruit NPC soldiers to the castle garrison or to buy more ammunition to the defense mechanisms of the castle. It can also be used for political purposes, such as changing ownerships, and if the castle is not a region of a larger country (the capital exists), it can also be used to promote and demote PCs who have served the castle well.

Chapter 2. Forming a domain

A domain is a general term for a group of castles unified under one flag, and ruled from one capital. A domain is like a country formed of those castles. Without a capital you may have an individual ranking system in each castle. It means that if you're a general in castle A, it doesn't apply to castle B. You can also handle promotions from the each castle office in what comes to the ranks in each individual castle. A general, however, has the option to create a domain. By doing this, a region of his choosing will become the capital of this domain. All functions regarding rank and position are rerouted to the control of the capital. Further ranks will come and go only from the capital, and only ranks confirmed by the capital are valid in the vassal regions. Also, after forming a domain, if you wish to join the garrison, any castle won't do anymore - you need to head for the capital and apply to the service there. This re-enlistment is also necessary when a capital is defined to an already existing group of castles (which is not a domain).

Chapter 3. The castle garrison

Overview

Even the most powerful ruler cannot possibly control and keep guard of all his castles for all the time. Therefore he needs people to serve under him. Every castle has a garrison, from the ranks of which youll find people from ordinary troops to officials to take care of the most important matters at hand. There are 13 ranks, which are divided into four subcategories. The names of these ranks may vary according to one's race, but the classification is the same regardless of one's race, only name differs. The ranks are presented here from the perspective of a human army.

Remember to always reward your PC members of the garrison accordingly to keep them happy. It is not wise to instantly promote everyone to high ranks, since you lose the benefits of the ranking system. The better you have the hierarchy constructed for your domain, and the people positioned on it, the better they know their duties, and the better it will work out for you.

Remember, if you are a commander, do not let out promotions like candy. That's just amateur. This won't mean that the promotions should be impossible to acquire either. You may reflect a player's success in his duty to base these promotions on.

The senior officer ranks

General

The General is the leader of a castle. He has access to all castle functions, and is the only rank that can form a country or give a castle ownership to someone else. The general is also abbreviated CO, or the commanding officer. He issues and authorizes all orders given by his officers.

Other races' equivalents: Demon: Pit Fiend - Lord of devils, with great strength and deadly power.

Lt. General

The Lt. General is the immediate right hand man of the general. Also shortened to XO, or an executive officer, he is in charge of the region/country when the CO is absent. He has access to every function of the castle, except that he cannot give castles away or form countries. Lieutenant means 'aide', so his job, simply put, is to work as an aide to the general.

Other races' equivalents: Demon: Ashkult - A humanoid dragon-like demon judge.

Colonel

The colonel is the elder senior officer rank and he may command anything but the most vital functions of a castle. This is the end of the road for many, because there usually is only one or two lt. generals as acting XOs. Colonels are very powerful, and as senior officers command almost equal amount of authority. The lieutenant generals, are of course, chosen from the ranks of the colonels so they are different in only formal sense.

Other races' equivalents: Demon: Excruciarch - The diabolical insectoid pain demon, the master torturer and strategist.

Lt. Colonel

The lieutenant colonel is the introductory rank to the senior officers from the junior officer ranks. The lieutenant means 'aide', and this rank means that this particular person should work as an aide to a colonel. Whilst helping the colonel to do his duty, he is learning to become a full-blooded colonel one day. Other races' equivalents: Demon: Dogai - The black-hearted assassin devils and cunning spies of the hell.

The junior officer ranks

Major

The major is the most trusted man of the junior officer ranks. He tends to the needs of the particular castle, does not take part in politics as do the senior officers. His main responsibility is to follow that the orders issued out by the colonel are carried out to the minute detail.

Other races' equivalents: Demon: Barbazu - Ferocious demon warriors that frenzy with a saw-toothed glaive.

Captain

The captain is the leader of the field. When a major issues an order for a larger unit of troops to operate, a captain is to devise the necessary plans to carry out this orders. He, on the other hand, issues these solutions to the lieutenants, who carry them out in the next link in the chain of command.

Other races' equivalents: Demon: Malebranche - Hulking, horned warriors, enforcers, punishers, and mounts of higher ranks.

1st Lieutenant

The first lieutenant is the second junior officer rank to see battle (2nd lieutenant being the first). His tasks are to watch over the troop operation, devise and put into action tactics that will best carry out the orders issued by the superiors, the captain or the major.

Other races' equivalent: Demon: Cornugon - Gargoylelike fiend armed with a spiked chain.

2nd Lieutenant

The second lieutenant is a preparatory rank for the main lieutenant rank, the first lieutenant. His tasks are similar to the 1st Lt. in that they have everything to do with garrison administration and troop transportation/operation duties.

Other races' equivalent: Demon: Cornugon - Dinosaurlike guardians with massive maw and a wicked stinger.

The non-commissioned officer (NCO) ranks

Sergeant Major

The sergeant major is the field rank with most authority. He is the true leatherneck. He will carry out the orders of the officers with years of battles behind his back, and usually with a stomach-churning efficiency. The main rank is actually a sergeant, but since some do not fill the requirements for the officer ranks - this is the last and the most revered position a field soldier may achieve. These men are charismatic battlefield leaders.

Other races' equivalent: Demon: Hamatula - The 'barbed demon', the elite infernal warrior with impaling spikes.

Sergeant

The sergeant is the backbone of the field command. They have proven exceptional savvy in leadership abilities, and are usually in charge of a platoon. They are experienced fighters and inspirational battlefield leaders. In game world terms a sergeant would be a leader of a 9-man party.

Other races' equivalent: Demon: Narzugon - Nightmare-riding elite cavalry member.

Corporal

The corporal is a small team leader. He is also the backup man for the unfortunate happenstance that the sergeant is disabled during performing his duty. This is the first rank that needs leadership skills, and very often successful corporals will eventually become sergeants and be assigned to lead a full-blooded platoon. In game terms a corporal would be a leader of a 3-man party. When a sergeant is present, the corporal is to help the sergeant in performing his duty.

Other races' equivalent: Demon: Merregon - The legion demons - formidable warriors with shield and spears.

The enlisted troops

Private

The privates are the backbone of a field army. They are a part of a squadron and are expected to carry out orders, nothing more. They receive harsh training to provide better chances of survival on the battlefield. Without privates, there cannot be an army.

Other races' equivalent: Demon: Orthon - Foot soldiers of Hell's armies.

Recruit

Recruits have just entered the service of the garrison. Nothing special is expected from them, and their access to castle functions is extremely limited. They are to undergo training and learn the ways of the regions. Once they have learned those ways, they are usually promoted to privates.

Other races' equivalent: Demon: Lemure - Mindless, tormented creature that attacks in mobs. Cannon fodder.

Chapter 4. Acquiring control of a castle

A commandership of a castle is acquired through a process called sieging. Sieging is a process to weaken the castle by forced attrition. During a siege, the castle is surrounded by the attacker's army so that no-one can get in or out. In the real world, sieging could hold on for months. And since a castle has it's own demands of upkeep (food, supplies), this attrition will eventually force the castle to act or perish. During a siege, the castle under attack cannot hire or fire garrison personnel, nor use their treasury to emergency relocate their funds.

A siege can be started from the castle yard. Once started, the attacking team has 45 minutes to breach through the castle gates using the ram. If the 45 minutes pass, and the gates are intact, the siege is thwarted. During this 45 minutes of time, the castle garrison will try to resist this from happening in the form of NPC and PC representatives. If they can delay your ramming process enough, you will fail as the timer runs out. So you need to stay close to the ram for the duration of the siege. The gates themselves are VERY durable, so you need to use the ram almost constantly for the duration of the siege. It is told, that you need to use the ram approximately 2-3 times in a minute for a duration of 30 minutes to breach through.

If you survive the countermeasures, and if you can breach the gate within the time limit, you will gain access to the castle entrance. In the castle entrance, you will find a command 'claim'. By typing this command in the enemy castle, the castle will become yours, and you are the new ruler of that region.

Don't for a second think that sieging a castle is something you can solo randomly. They have all forms of nasty defenses, plus automated guards. It takes a considerable planning and friend to take down a castle. It is definitely not a solo act. The guards are definitely a force to be reckoned with. Once a castle has been conquered, it is significantly easier to defend it from the future opportunists. It is said that experienced 3 man parties are efficient enough in wearing down castle defenses, given that there is no player defending it at that moment.

Chapter 5. Commands

General commands

General commands function in all castle rooms.

'census'

This will show you the personnel record of your castle. This command, regardless of being 'general', does not function at the castle yard. This is because this information may be very useful for the enemy to plot his actions. There is also a possibility that the enemy may choose to hire a spy from the garrison ranks to snuff out this information. This is not illegal, but the castle lord should have been more careful in his picking.

'conquest'

This will track your success in the objectives mentioned in the chapter 6 of this document.

'resign'

You may resign from the garrison by using this command. Your rank and position will be revoked, and you will be a free man.

'roster'

Roster will give you information about the ongoings of the castles in the game. You will see which castles are under your race's command, and who is commanding them. You will however not see the commander of castles that do not belong to your race.

'ranks'

Also this command, despite its general level, works inside the castle but not from the yard. This will show you the rank hierarchy of your race.

The yard

These commands mainly work from the castle yard.

'siege'

Using this command, one may initiate sieges on the castles.

'siege start'

This command will initiate the siege process. The 45 minute timer is set and started, and the siege engine (the battering rams etc.) will appear on the yard for you to use against the gate.

'siege stop'

If you wish to give up your siege, you may use this command.

'siege time'

You may check the time you have left to breach the gates.

'enter'

If you belong to the castle garrison, or you have breached the gates through siege, you may enter the castle by using this command.

'yell *'

You might want to communicate with a PC who is manning the observation tower. By this command, the observation tower will hear your words.

'application'

If you wish to join the castle garrison, you send an application to the commander of the castle, who will receive a notice of this. To ensure his attention, it is generally a good idea to give him a tell or an email to discuss about the terms of your service. Based on these discussions, or whatever measures the commander has for new recruits, the commander may then accept or reject your application into the garrison. If you cannot get into the garrison of one lord, remember that there are as many garrisons as there are lords.

If you are trying to join the garrison of a domain, you will need to head for the capital to join.

The entrance

These commands work from the castle entrance.

'claim'

If you have successfully sieged the castle and breached the gate, you need to enter the castle and issue this command in the entrance room. By doing this, the castle will become yours to command.

'routes'

This command will show you into which other castles you have caravan routes. The caravan routes are a method of fast travel between the castles your race owns. Any garrison member may also use the caravan.

'caravan *'

Using this command you'll choose a destination of your travel from the list presented in the routes. A trip with the caravan costs you a nominal fee in gold.

'leave'

Leave outside the castle using the main entrance. Use like a normal exit.

'office'

Enter the castle office. You need to be of at least junior officer rank for this.

The observation tower

'view'

Take a look at the castle surroundings. The observation towers are tall and you can see far from them.

'observe'

Observe the nearby surroundings in more detail - for example, spot camps, people and monsters moving around your region in general.

'siegetime'

See how long the enemy has until his siege is thwarted.

'yard'

Take a look at the castle yard to see your friends' and enemies' identity and condition.

'yell *'

You may yell orders or communicate to the front yard using this command.

'archers'

If you have arrow volleys in your manifest, you may command the archers to fire these volleys to the yard. These volleys cause considerable damage to everyone outside. Therefore it is not wise to fire them if you have friendlies out.

'cauldrons'

If you have oil cauldrons in your manifest, you may pour boiling oil on your enemies. This is very painful, and causes immediate damage to the attackers.

'catapult'

Using this command you may operate the castle catapult. You may fire outside the scenic location, for a limited range. Note that you can also aim at the people ON the scenic location.

'deploy'

This command will place your garrison in the state of readiness and in the immediate command of your Lord High Constable to use his judgment to deploy your troops to the field in the case of an emergency.

'alert'

This command will raise your garrison's state of readiness. If the garrison is ready for action, it takes more salary but can respond to threats almost immediately. If required to respond from state of lesser readiness, fielding troops will take more time - and less money.

'battleorder'

This command will instruct the Lord High Constable - the one who fields the castle garrison in the times of need - to either send the NCOs (the non-commissioned officers) or the enlisted to the battlefield first. The NCOs are more powerful but cost more to lose, the enlisted troops are less powerful but cost less to lose.

The office

'treasury'

See the contents of the castle treasury.

'withdraw'

Withdraw gold from the castle treasury. This is restricted to the general and lt. general ranks only.

'manifest'

See the ammunition status to the castle defensive mechanisms.

'buy'

Buy ammunition to the castle defense mechanisms. Arrows, oil or stones.

'deposit'

Deposit gold to the castle treasury. Gold is always welcome, so this command is not too restricted from use.

'setowner'

This will change the ownership of the castle to the select player. It will cost a nominal amount of gold to swim through the necessary bureaucracy and paperwork.

'hire'

Hire NPC soldiers to your castle garrison. They will try to deter anyone trying to siege your castle if you are absent AND if they are deployed.

'fire'

Fire NPC soldiers from your castle garrison. NPC soldiers require salary, and if the treasury looks bad, it might be necessary to fire people.

'deploy'

This command will place your garrison in the state of readiness and in the immediate command of your Lord High Constable to use his judgment to deploy your troops to the field in the case of an emergency.

'garrison'

View the NPC guards you have serving this particular castle, and their salaries.

'alert'

This command will raise your garrison's state of readiness. If the garrison is ready for action, it takes more salary but can respond to threats almost immediately. If required to respond from state of lesser readiness, fielding troops will take more time and less money.

'battleorder'

This command will instruct the Lord High Constable - the one who fields the castle garrison in the times of need - to either send the NCOs (the non-commissioned officers) or the enlisted to the battlefield first. The NCOs are more powerful but cost more to lose, the enlisted troops are less powerful but cost less to lose.

'savegarrison'

This will save the current situation of your garrison for the unlikely event of game crash or similar emergency.

'applicants'

This command will show the players who have applied to join your garrison. You may then use accept or reject command at your own discretion.

'accept'

This command will enlist an applicant from the applicant list to an active member of the castle garrison at the rank of a recruit.

'reject'

This command will reject an applicant from the applicant list from becoming an active member of the castle garrison.

'promote'

This command will further the career of the given player by one step further. Use this command with great care and pre-determination.

'demote'

This command will demote the select player by one rank. Be warned though - because the players don't get real life salary from the regions, they might be real picky about continuing under your command. This command, if not used as a tool for setting hierarchy, will seriously affect the target player's morale to stay with you.

'position'

This command is a open-ended method for the castle commander to let people know where they should be, and what they should be doing there. For example, it is a good conduct to clearly state for each member of your garrison at least his command post. This command takes any string you want to set visible in the census.

'discharge'

If there is need to fire a PC from your garrison, you may do it via the discharge command. PCs can however resign by themselves if they so wish.

'capital'

Using this command, you will center your domain at this particular castle. All ranks and positions are rerouted to this castle, and will be disabled from other regions.

Chapter 6. Objectives

There are five different objectives you may achieve from the regions play. First is to have fun by waging war with your friends against other players. The ultimate objective is to rule all the 102 castles of each continents. It is only a few select individuals who command the sufficient battle prowess, leadership, diplomatic and political savvy to achieve this. There are truly not many who can achieve this, and certainly not solo.

You will also get awards for obtaining control of all the castles of a given continent.

Chapter 7. Joining a player garrison

The process is fairly simple: Go to the castle yard of a castle of someone whose garrison you would wish to join and type 'application send'. If he has formed his regions as a domain, you will be informed that you need to apply in the capital, and what particular castle the capital of this domain is. Find that castle from the map, go there, and try again. Remember, that the acceptance is not automatic, but it takes the castle commander online to either accept or reject your application. So to speed things up, you might want to give him a tell or mail in which you present yourself, why you want to join the garrison, in what fields of expertise you excel, and a few words about your activity hours.

Appendix A. Rules of engagement (RoE) for regions

Each continent has several regional headquarters of the races of BatMUD known as castles, scattered over the landscape. Most are located near the important sites of these races. As you find a castle, you might want to siege it to yourself, for gold and glory. However, some moral guidelines have to be drawn to ensure mutual understanding of the process of war. These rules are not carved in stone nor heavily enforced by the wizardhood (but to some degree, yes they are) - but the responsibility to conform to the RoE is mostly in the hands of the regional landlords to enforce.

The one who breaks these rules during the region play is to be freely condemned ethically by all civilized region landlords.

§1 - Don't mix regions with non-regions gameplay

The most important rule of thumb first. After the siege, and whether the attacker fails to intrude your tower or not, the event regarding regions gameplay is over and you enter within the boundaries of general player killing rules (help player killing). Feel free to shout insults afterwards or try conquering his castle but that's about it. It is unsportsmanlike to ruin someone's play because he was or was not better than you in regions.

§2 - Repelling your attackers

Feel free to kill the one (and his aides) who attacks your or your friend's castles within the context of the sieging process. Please limit the killing to the time boundary that is set by the siege attempt, which is 45 minutes. Do not kill before that time, or after that time.

§3 - Causing permanent damage in regions play

Causing MAJOR permanent damage in the form of eq loss or similar is forbidden. Technically, if you dest someone's eq in regions it affects one's gameplay outside the regions - thus violating rule §1.

§4 - Allies in defending or conquering

Feel free to do regions with people. Gather parties to fight so you could do better. After all, conquering a castle is harder than defending it once conquered. This is war and numbers count, feel free to conquer all the towers, alone or with horde of allies. After all, everyone needs allies. It's very hard to ensure constant bulletproof protection of your castle.

One word for the allies - as you help the one who's attending a siege you will place yourself as a target for defender's countermeasures for those 45 minutes - the one who plays does not cower.

§5 - Commanding several castles

Again, it's favourable to have as many towers you are able to conquer. However, it is unsportsmanlike to threaten to ruin one's non-regions game if you cannot maintain them all.

§6 - Completing the Conquer quests

You are NOT to swindle ownerships of the castles so, that more than one person will benefit from completing the quest at the 'same price.' These quests are to be made by each person individually. You may however help someone do this quest, that at the end you will transfer the ownership of your castles to him. Again, thenafter it is illegal for him to transfer all the castles to you so that you can also get the quest.