Rule land and vassals
Create a coat of arms
Raise and train heirs
Become a Monarch
Cloak and Dagger Play
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This document will answer to the most frequently asked questions about Call of the Kings.
1. What are the system requirements for this game?
System requirements
- 3D enabled graphic card.
- Linux, Mac or Windows 98 or newer.
- Monitor capable of 16 bit color at 1024 x 768.
- 200mb free hard disk space.
2. What is the game setting? (Universe)
Set in a world of medieval high fantasy, Call of the Kings takes place in the old Empire of Khadoria and on the surrounding frontier continents. Noble houses wage war for control of the Emperor’s throne in the shadow of his death. Players can recruit and take control of mighty dragons to help their armies in the continued struggles of war. Players can also build flying citadels to carry their armies swiftly into enemy territories.
3. What kind of game is it?
Call of the Kings is a Real Time Strategy (’RTS’) game that focuses on Player vs Player (’PvP’) combat. Unlike classic RTS games, the RTS element is applied to army movement, espionage, diplomacy and estate improvement, and not tactical troop movements and resource gathering.
The gaming sessions consist of two distinct types. The player has the main family of his noble house engaged in the Khadorian Empire where the game flow spans over 3-5 months. A few 5 minute logins per day to update your estate, move armies and cast votes on global politics will be sufficient to sustain your influence on the game outcome. In the meantime and when you have the time to spare, you can send distantly related families of your noble house into the colonial frontiers, where the game sessions will keep you occupied for 1-5 hours of swift strategic warfare.
All games are persistent meaning that you can login and out as you please, but the battles rage on. Your families are also persistent meaning that their heroes and family skill masteries are carried over from one game to the next.
The First Beta will only include the fast paced colonial Frontiers and not the slow paced Khadorian Empire.
4. Can I solo my way through?
There are ways to solo the games. How much you cooperate with other players is entirely up to you. However the games are won collectively by the kingdom team structure, and while you can be alone in your own kingdom having plenty of fun hunting for items, improving troops and heroes, improving your estate or stealing from the rich, you will have a very hard time competing against larger kingdoms in the war for the Imperial Throne. You can also be part of a large kingdom and abstain from team play. All kingdoms through history have had their share of dark sheep.
5. What races are there?
There are 6 classic fantasy races that all hold influence in the Imperial Council. This includes the human Anglian and Sahel cultures. The Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Goblinoids. The players will be able to pick race specific house names and hero names from auto generated lists. The main differences of the races are the available elite troops. A noble house may include families of different races.
6. What classes are there?
All families of a noble house have a heritage. When a family has gained a certain amount of victory points the player may select one of 10 heritages for the family. These heritages span from Crime Lords, Diplomats and Merchants to Technicians and Mystics. The heritage determines how well a family can perform in most aspects of the game. The family heroes are capable of moving armies, extorting taxes from the peasants, fighting in battles and using magic. All heroes have professions ranging from barbarians, wizards and priests to tacticians and assassins.
7. How many characters can I have per account?
All accounts can hold one noble house including one main family and a number of related colonial families. All families start with 3-5 hero characters and in due time, birth and death from old age can increase this number.
You can only join with one family per game. A household may hold only two accounts. If more are needed, a player must advise customer support, a player should also advise if they play from a public location (such as an Internet cafe) as all IP addresses are tracked and multiple accounts are deleted to help maintain gameplay balance.
8. What are the major game features?
You can interact with thousands of players in the same game world. The clans that conquer and hold specific colonial frontiers will gain benefits in all other battles till the frontier is lost to another clan. In the final version of the game we will also have a game of global politics where the families in the Khadorian Empire can propose new Conventions in the Imperial Council for all players to vote upon. These conventions will be able to change the game logic and determine the limits of right and wrong in all the games.
- Build an underground network of intrigue using underground headquarters, spies, sabotage and deadly assassins.
- Intercept messages and obtain rumors about other players, troop movements and hidden treasure from your taverns and brothels.
- Use deception to cast the blame of criminal acts onto other players.
- Spend some time in the Imperial Council and vote for the punishments of players that have been found guilty of crimes against the Imperial Law.
- Move your armies into combat using more than 160 different troop types of 6 different fantasy races. Customize them using more than a 100 skills and spells.
- Move from town to town and setup trade routes or bribe the caravan masters and claim the trade monopolies of other players. Accumulate ’Man Labor’ and invest it in construction and research.
- Raise and train your heirs and hirelings. You can select professions for your heirs as they grow into adults.
- Hunt for dungeons and bandit camps and discover enchanted items.
- Sweet talk your monarch and climb the ranks of nobility and honor. From Baron to High Duke, Prince or Monarch.
- Collect taxes from your minions and share it with your most trusted vassals.
9. Is there PvP play (can I fight other players), if so what kind?
The game is all about PvP in a RTS setting. You wage war against the other players in an eternal struggle for victory and control of land, troops and more! Your tools of war range from military force and conquest to pirate raids, army stealth, espionage, theft, assassins, magic, economic warfare, diplomacy and intimidation, annexation, battle assistance, team vision and the good old ’dagger in the back’.
10.Can I be attacked while offline?
Yes! You can be attacked while offline, but in the slow paced Khadorian Empire you can plan many hours ahead, and there is usually time to react adequately on hostilities, unlike in the faster frontier games where your holdings can crumble under coordinated enemy attacks within minutes. Thus you will not voluntarily log out of an unfinished frontier game, but if your boss stops by, the laundry needs to be done or the computer crashes you will still be able to login later and resume control of the estate.
All families start in a stronghold with an initial piece of land. The stronghold can never be destroyed nor conquered by enemy players. So even after the worst onslaught by fierce merciless enemies you will still have a base for your family to return to the game with a vengeance. Slain heroes can be resurrected by your priest heroes within a time limit or at the end of the game. Only old age can permanently kill your heroes.
11. How can I make a difference if my estate has been reduced to rubble?
Even the casual player can win if they are part of the kingdom that ends the game by completing one of the endgame victory conditions. All players represent extra armies, extra income and extra abilities to harass the enemy kingdoms, so unless you as a player have a terrible reputation as a traitor you will be able to find many players willing to annex you into their kingdom.
Ultimate territorial domination is not the only goal of the game. There are several subgoals that will earn you victory points for the family. That includes such things as having the most underground headquarters, the most trade routes, the largest navy, destroying most dungeons etc.
12. Empire, Kingdoms, Clans, Alliances, Houses, Families? What’s the difference?
The Empire is the entire nation of players. The players can form and join Clans that are groups of friends and like minded players. The players in a clan share exclusive forums, colonial wealth, tournament victory benefits and enemy clans. The clan structure spans all the games and victories gained by members of the clan reflect on all the clan members in other games.
Each game has a number of Kingdoms that the players can join. Players from the same or allied clans will usually strive to end up in the same kingdom to avoid competition, but all players of any affiliation can eventually end up in the same kingdom through friendly annexations, or due to hostile annexations by surrender. Limitations set down by the Imperial Tradition make sure that there will always be at least two kingdoms of near equal size in each game; but the games can hold as many as 6-100 different kingdoms at any time only limited by the amount of available kingdom strongholds in each specific game scenario.
The monarchs and high nobility of each kingdom may propose Alliances towards other kingdoms. Such alliances primarily enforce non aggression (at least by overt methods) for a period of time, and alliances do not change the fact that only one kingdom can win the game. The players in a kingdom cannot attack other members using overt methods. They all benefit from a shared kingdom science and can opt to share vision, intelligence reports and available troop skills. They all pay a kingdom tax and based on the title of nobility a share of the kingdom taxes is redistributed to everybody in the kingdom thus making it possible for the monarch to assign better incomes to his most loyal subjects by giving them better titles of nobility.
The House is the equivalent of the Player and represents the player’s families with a unique coat of arms, a name and an honor score showing how well the player has performed in the past. The player’s families do not have to be of the same race, but they are still considered related through bonds of imperial blood oaths and honor.
13. Is there some roleplay content in this game? Where do I find it?
There is as much or as little roleplaying as you wish to make of it. The world is rich in politics, intrigue and subterfuge. Decisions you make can affect game play for others as well. You can make deals with others and form alliances or declare war. How you choose to play is part of what makes Call of the Kings so fascinating. There are also plenty of opportunities to improve and customize your heroes as they gain experience, new abilities, magic laws and enchanted items.
14. How can I get support?
The game is currently in closed beta. Participants have information on how to obtain help. We will revise this section closer to launch.
15. How do I tell if the server is online, down or under maintenance?
At this time, the only method is to attempt to log in.
16. How much will it cost me to play? What payment methods are available?
With the main family it is possible to play 5 of the 6 episodes without paying. The final episode does require payment and may be accessed by several different means. There is a flat monthly fee of $10 USD, and the option to pay a one time fee to access advanced features, like creating your own clan, creating password games, changing family heritages etc.
17. Is there a free trial period, if so where can I access it?
Participation in the beta is free. It is possible to play 5 of the 6 episodes and one of the colonial frontiers without paying.
18. Where is the official website for the game?
The Official website is located at: http://www.callofthekings.com
19. What status is the game in?
The game is currently in closed Beta and scheduled for public Beta in Q3 - 2007.
20. How can I get involved in Beta testing?
In order to join the beta test, users should sign up here: http://www.callofthekings.com/join.php . Registration does not guarantee beta access.
