Armies, Conquest, Companions, and Complex Relationships Update (Patreon)

Very excited to be releasing this update, as it includes some major macro and micro level features I've been working on for a while.

This is available to members now and will be released to purchased versions at the end of October, on Halloween. Members can download here.IMPORTANT: I've reached out to NovelAI about this issue, but I've had reports from others and experienced it myself: after importing the scenario, the scripts can appear to be enabled without actually loading.Make sure you click "Enable All" at the bottom of the User Scripts window before clicking "Continue".

PATH TO POWER

Every great city can now be taken. Earn standing, undermine the ruler, survive the showdown, then make your bid

Each city falls its own way. Gorumb answers only to Nizhoni, Sulkara is claimed on the night of Bromios's rite, and Dartmoor requires you to topple Sera

A new Power window (in the world panel) shows what each city needs from you, what is ready, and exactly where to go next

Ruling is not the end. The old order plots against you, and a city that slips out of your grip will throw you out and arrest you

Multiple ways to earn standing: patronage, paying for repairs, quests, and your own caravans coming home

Quests now must be handed in at the giver's own seat: the Mint, Gromm's War Room, the Council Hall, and the rest

ARMIES AND CONQUEST

Hire companies of foot, archers, cavalry, siege crews and casters in Dartmoor, orc warbands in Grunwald, or buy slave soldiers in Drovak

Your army is paid every day. Leave it unpaid and it deserts a little more each day (the orcs will take what they are owed)

March on a city: enter openly, hide your army outside, storm the walls, lay siege, or bribe a guard

Lead from the front with your best fighting skill, or command from the rear. The odds are shown before you commit

Battles are written into the story as they happen. When a fight is too close to call, you decide how it ends (only for Easy and Medium difficulties)

Besieged cities sally out against your camp, and their neighbours may march a relief column to break your siege

Take a city and it is yours: station troops, collect its income, and hold it when the old order comes back to retake it

Battered companies can be refilled where they were hired, and companies that survive three battles become veterans

Gorumb has no walls: its militia meets you on the canyon floor, and Nizhoni comes down to settle it

Every great city now has outskirts, so your army can camp outside the walls while you decide how to go in

Eight named raiding companies prey on the roads. Pay their toll, run, fight, or hunt them down with your army for their hoard

Blood Gangs can now be hunted on the road between cities

YOUR PARTY

Hire up to three companions at the Spotted Pig in Dartmoor or the Gutter Crown in Drovak, twelve in all, each with a story of their own

Companions lend their skills to your rolls, fight beside you, heal you faster, and each brings a talent no one else has

Set each companion to the front or the rear, careful or bold, and buy them better gear

The longer they travel with you, the more you can edit about them: how they dress, what they call you, a skill raised to expert, what lies between you, and their weapons

Companions can die. New faces may turn up at the inn to take their place

BONDS AND RELATIONSHIPS

Complex Bonds: Write the public face, the private truth, and what each side feels and hides, and keep it secret if you choose

Paired with Agents, Complex Bonds give the characters around you real inner lives. I highly recommend promoting a character to an Agent, then creating a Complex Bond with conflicting agendas. Look at the example in the Help menu. With the NPC Brains script also updating the character's thoughts, this can lead to complex and layered writing

More bond roles to choose from, and every bond becomes part of the world the story remembers

PROPERTY AND THE WORLD

Shops and homes you buy get a name and become real places in the story

Guards for your shops, homes and caravans, up to level four. Homes can now be looted, so guard them

You can give companies to a city's garrison to win its favour

Black Lotus and Psilocybe trips run longer, play out properly, and can start from your own line

Floki can be switched off in the Noise window, he always stays out of battles

PLAY AND QUALITY OF LIFE

Retry now replays the same turn (same dice, same events) instead of rerolling the world. Undo and write something different to roll again

Better fight reading: more weapon strikes, hooves and grabs are recognised, and fewer false rolls

Fight wounds land where you were hit, and injuries the story describes are judged more fairly

"I sleep until dawn" and "we wait until nightfall" now move the clock to that time

Leaving a city takes you to its outskirts, and "we ride back to Drovak" counts as travel, charged properly

Time moves at a calmer pace by default, and the Loop Breaker fights repetition harder

Starting outside the great cities now gives you a proper first journey in

Species powers are easier to use: each species card tells you what to say

Expanded Help, including a worked example of a Complex Bond

Thank you to everyone that supports this.I always have more ideas than time, but please send me feedback.I enjoy hearing about player experiences, as well as ideas or bugs.All the best!