Choice of Rebels Part 1 WIP thread

For instance at beginning of the band . I have the option of lying or being sincere about what drives me.

My character wants be sincere in being both Ruthless and nacionalist. And there is no choice for me because I didn’t have choice of lying in religion. My character doesn’t found interesting lie about religion until being in the band. And like that she can’t lie. So I have to say I want be sincere when I totally not.

Looks like you are right. Heck, for all I know, I might have hit a temporary glitch of things.

And some others refuse to make that commitment based on less than conclusive evidence, not to mention the history of organised religion vilifying and persecuting them. Both of them happen to be the case for my former helot.

Sounds like my mc’s kind of place, sadly we probably won’t get there until the fourth installment. Where do Erezza and Wiendrj fall on this spectrum, considering how they were never part of the Xthonic heartlands of Shayard and Karagon?

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What I would love is being atheist and pretending be devoted. Sadly I can’t make it work.

Also @Havenstone I found a bug I am in the mission of smuggling for merchants I select mission and it says is done but mission still being selectable and doesn’t work So I can’t
receive the reward

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There isn’t much in the index. Wiendrj gets a brief mention with this line: Many Whends still secretly revere the Forgotten Gods.

It puts me in mind of like rural areas, or what have you that still held to the ‘Old Ways’ while adhering the dominant religion around them.

Erezza isn’t mentioned at all, but considering they are at the forefront of the on-again, off-again war with the Halassurqs, it wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t have some influence in that regard as well as the normal Xthonos religion

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Guess I’ll have to change that to include options for partial sincerity. CoG policy is to avoid binary choices, after all. :slight_smile:

As it happens, I was just stuck for 24 hours in a rural town with nothing but the clothes on my back and cash in my pocket… so I picked up a notebook and spent the day updating my schema for future XoR installments to make sure they fit some of the things I’ve dreamt up over the past few years. On the current plan, XoR III: Omphalos will end in Nyryal (visiting the Thaumatarchy’s space program, naturally), and you’ll have the option to visit the Nyrish capital in XoR IV: Betrayal.

As I think we mentioned above, the first major Nyr character will pop up in the first chapter of XoR II: Stormwright, so you’ll have the chance to hang out even before you visit.

XoR IV, by the way, will include the option to begin in Aveche – though not to begin work on a canal.

The average Erezziano is a devout Xthonos-worshipper; among all the other reasons, it heightens the contrast between their identity and that of the Halassurq enemy. The Wiends are not skeptics, but they believe they no longer know the truth – that it was lost at the time of the conquest. Unless and until they rediscover the forgotten truth, they’ve little reason to object to the rites of the Hegemony; but they’re scarcely passionate about it. More on that in XoR II, and you’ll have the option to visit Wiendrj halfway through XoR III to properly engage with it.

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@Havenstone

Not looking for specifics, but do you foresee allowing the MC to tailor their faith a bit more as the player comes into contact with other cultures/ideas? (At least for those who initiated such things, of course)

The reason I ask…as an example, I admit to being fascinated with how Abhumans might view things. Since the Karagonds would consider a Goete MC as a servant of Xaos, as they do the Abhumans, I could see a Goete possibly incorporating some of the more palatable (if any) bits of Abhuman beliefs.

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Yeah, I think that’s needed. I gofor a materialist nihilist atheist character that fake being devote of truth sayardene faith because politics. As it is now or I am x or I am y. Not really more varied spectrum
Edit @Havenstone Zad died no idea why and Ghost elery and Ghost Breden appear crying.

He dies very stupid due text says I successful avoid any contact with Hector men. In the battle with two nobles 9 men died included Zad dies. Ejem, I successful avoid any contact Also is game forced into 3 men dying in wqinter due I don’t do anything aggressive, have food and no ill people but always 3 men die just because

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I don’t know if this is worth investigating, but I think I should mention it.

I seem to have stumbled upon a way to boost one’s popularity with the yeomanry, often getting described “You are quickly becoming a folk hero to the yeoman.” at the end of winter. I hesitate to call this a bug, and I don’t know if it works for anyone else.

Basically, if I take control of the feeding, etc. during the winter, one of my first acts is to have a really large swarm of bandits raid yeoman farms for grain and mules. I don’t go into the mule screen to do this, but the very top one (where you can also choose Tithe barns, etc.) Now, this definitely makes the yeoman hate my guts.

However, especially if I raided like the Alastors/Monastery for mules, a few weeks later, after I sell 3-4, I have enough money to replenish the grain I had stolen from the Yeoman, and this seems to cause a significant bump in popularity…and if I don’t raid them any further that winter, that’s when I often get the “folk hero” descriptor. Not always, but it’s happened enough in my last few playthroughs to be noticeable.

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Just a general comment, I know the majority of players will probably never see it, but I just want to say that the parts for someone not interested in a physical relationship…well, I thought they were well done, and actually more heart-wrenching with regard to Breden. Good job @Havenstone.

And on that note, if you are so inclined…if one breaks up with Breden over it, and then gets with de Firiac…you might want to add some commentary where de Firiac basically asks, “Weren’t you with Breden?” and the MC explains why…

And there is a slight inconsistency, at least on this current playthrough. If you do stay with Breden, marrying her in secret, she then tells you what to do with the Kryptast.

The inconsistency lies in that you will kiss her, but up to that point you refrained from physical intimacy

Minor Correction as well. This paragraph has two sets of quoted lines. They should be separate paragraphs.
“I couldn’t bear to lose you either.” “I do want to marry you, Alya. That’s why your asking me this morning hit so hard. I’d thought it would never be more than a dream. And what I’d dreamed was… something very different to what we have now.”

Basically, after “lose you either.” and “I do want to…”

And oh it was so satisfying to destroy the Phalangites in the end.

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I think the cover art should represent something present in every playthrough. The Harrower is tempting but I too am not sure how it would be drawn. Another option that occurs to me is when the MC as a child first sees a Plektos and its Theurge. The MC at that time is young enough that gender need not be obvious in the artwork and the Plektos should look fairly impressive.

I apologize that it took me so long to comment on the latest update. I’ve had a lot happening in real life. Here are my comments and observations in no particular order:

When holding Horion and Linos hostage and sending the ransom note to the Keriatou, Linos complains about the note having been sent to the Alastors.

During the second week of fighting over the summer, the casualties are greater than the remaining number of rangers.

If there are not enough mules for the sick the first time Theurges fly over, then the estimate of the number of mules needed is much higher than the normal estimate you get when talking to the Abler.

A MC that wanted to convince the Band to retreat to the Xaoslands or possibly a skeptical MC would have no reason to conceal Yed Gaverne’s story of people living and farming in the Xaoslands.

During the winter if you intend on raiding both the priests and Alastors for mules while also sending scouts to find the next batch of Hegemony mules, it is necessary to send scouts after more Hegemony mules before raiding the priests and Alastors because the option to send scouts is no longer available after raiding the priests and Alastors that week.

During the winter, the opportunity to take action ends as soon as you run out of free bandits even if the MC or Breden are still free. This means for example that the MC or Breden would need to be assigned to try to get mules before the last free bandits are used up.

I am so happy to be able to recruit Etthena who (by the description) I hope is a CHA 2 replacement for Breden. I honestly don’t think that Breden is a Hegemony spy. This is actually a pity because after how insulting (different insults depending on whether the MC is a noble or a helot), oblivious (Breden complains about feeling insulted by the MC but Breden publicly insults the MC even after everything the MC has done), and arrogant (Breden seems to feel that Breden’s tender feelings are more important than the security of the rebellion and that the only possible reason why a noble MC would reject Breden’s advances is prejudice against Helots as opposed to really disliking Breden) Breden acts towards a MC that rejects Breden’s advances or who quite reasonably suspects Breden, my MC would have relished personally executing Breden if Breden were proven a traitor. Since instead it appears that Breden is merely a coward and/or incompetent as shown if Breden is sent to bring in Horion and Linos, my MC was resigned to tolerating Breden’s presence for the sake of Breden’s skills and using Breden’s skills only when there was no better way.

Even when the MC actively distrusts and is testing Breden, the MC is still stuck with Breden on the trip back from raiding the sheep flock if the MC is using the “trick for avoiding Theurges” and not already romancing anyone. I would prefer the choice to pick who to accompany on the way back. I am very tired of having Breden shoved down our throats. During the end of winter celebration when Breden asks the MC to dance, I resent the implication that every MC would feel something at seeing Breden dancing with Ciels. After Breden’s insults at the end of Chapter 1 if Breden was told that Breden was under suspicion, I think it is quite plausible that a MC that had been that insulted by Breden would feel no attraction to Breden whatsoever. Physical attraction when they first met before they knew each other is one thing, but forcing the MC to still feel attracted to someone who had so gravely insulted the MC is nonsense. My MC would have liked the option to punch or slap Breden immediately after some of those insults.

There appear to be numerous points in the storyline where a romance with Breden can start, but so far as I know there is only one place where a MC attracted to Kalt’s gender can start a romance and one other place where a MC not attracted to Kalt’s gender can start a romance. I cannot comment on Simon/Suzanne because I came to dislike that character and in my opinion the only way to recruit that character anyway was to give less than the utmost effort at beating the Hegemony which is just silly for a rebellion. I think there need to be more places in the storyline to allow a relationship to develop with ROs other than Breden.

I also think that future games should unlock more existing characters as ROs. @Havenstone does such a wonderful job of developing the personalities of many of those characters that it should hardly be surprising that MCs would feel drawn to some of them. I don’t think it is unreasonable to suppose that an INT 2 MC might value intellect above all else in a RO and the current ROs are either COM 2 or CHA 2. I find Yebben fascinating and for storyline reasons Ganelon if still alive would also be an interesting RO. I don’t have the heart to come between Elery and Zvad however. I would also note that a MC wanting a physical relationship with a RO should not rule out romantic moments with the RO as well. There is no reason a relationship cannot be both physical and romantic.

I have not tried dispersing the Band in summer since the latest patch, but prior to the latest patch it tended to result in taking high casualties when attempting to escape the enemy pincer movement. I think it is counter-factual to suppose that a smaller band would have more problems escaping the encirclement than a larger band. It makes sense that a smaller band could not field as many rangers but it should have an easier time escaping encirclement considering that most of the children are away and there are roughly half as many people. While the Band is preparing to send off the children, there is no reason why the ones staying behind cannot train for night movement particularly since the ones staying behind know they will need to evade the Hegemony.

In Chapter 4, if the Band decides its course by moot and Breden’s faction’s has the most support and the MC fails to persuade Breden to change Breden’s mind, then the game talks about the Band implementing the agreed upon course but it is always to evade the Hegemony in the woods not to disperse as Breden advocated.

So far as I can tell, there is not yet any text to describe what a MC does with any remaining phials of Aetherial Blood before entering the Xaoslands.

If you pick Yebben to lead the Band in your absence, he “stares at you with dawning, horrified realization” which might be an appropriate reaction for anyone else you might pick to lead but I am not sure how realistic the staring part is considering Yebben’s blindness.

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Smallest band possible hasn’t children or old people. I infact have about 40 something for last battle. I am happy with the results now. I could run rather successfully after desmoralize totally the phallanx accusing destroy Shallard 90% nacionalism and charisma . @Havie stats still including Children I don’t know as death, and more deaths as soldiers I have.

Also I don’t have Breden and I haven’t any sabotage nor poisoning

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is there a guide for this? i can never beat the phalangites completely playing as a theumaturge, even with 200 somewhat fighters

Don’t bother putting one together just yet, anybody. There’s some major game balancing work about to happen – just as soon as I’ve whacked the last identifiable bugs in the code.

I think we will have one last alpha update sometime in the coming week, and then we’ll go to beta.

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Yeah, but I hope that doesn’t get nerfed, you need to do everything you possibly can to get mules, well unless you’re Mara and go into to the dungeons and let most of your would-be followers get killed first, I suppose. Those mules are the bottleneck and the key to surviving the winter is maximizing them early on.

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I have more mules than people. And I haven’t to buy anything really. No people and two charisma are the best. I mean I even demoralized to much phalangites that they let me go away. And I killed a mutant hunt with my Lacoste spears. No breden so no poisoning no sabotage. And everyone was happy. My only problem is Zapdos died due a glitch. I mean my revolution is a lame one. With no violence against anything and only 70 people . But is the revolution I want a pro noble nationalist pro monarch Free Shayard but due religious and peaceful revolution changing morality. Evil Gandhi acting like Budha.

For me is fascinating. More than the typical routes everyone else follows that are more important than mine.

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A Pletkos would be striking, surely. But it’s the thing that only one MC gets, and I think the monster would be pretty hard to draw. “Big-wolf-blood-beast-thing” and all. Those are just my two cents.

And, yeah, I’m back to the thread, luckily in time for the last update.

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I would love The harrowing scene as a portrait A mc standing up front chirex.Even if I don’t role olay that scenario that’s what most of players would see.

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Beating the Phalangites is tough. Once @Havenstone does the last public build, I will try to throw together a guide which will help in that regard, assuming someone else doesn’t beat me to it. However, just a few observations from my own playthrough…and yes, some of it is min-maxing.

  1. Try not to piss off too many people. You will not get through the winter without making some kind of enemies, but if you irritate the yeoman, the helots, the Ecclesiasts, and the merchants they will send ton of additional forces. I remember one game where it was around 900+ forces I faced…not exactly great odds to do so.

  2. If playing as a Theurge, go for a hidden one. If you are publically known to have magic, that tacks on another 3 Theurges or so.

  3. Try to use as many people as you can to booby trap your various camp sites. You can get up to 50 each go. If you do it right, you can easily pick off around 200 people (Or more) when the Phalangites invades. Done right, this will knock off about 25% of the invading force.

  4. Buy weapons. This goes without saying, but without iron weapons, your people are just asking to be slaughtered.

  5. Recruiting people. Yes, this may end up giving Breden more power than you wish, but if you retain majority control in the winter, it isn’t a big deal.

  6. Keep Zvad in game. He normally leaves, but if you are chosen as ‘Eclect’, you can convince him to stay by appealing through religion. However, this only works with a Charismatic MC.

  7. Either go full cosmopolitan, or full nationalistic. You will get some accomplished fighters (though they have their own agenda). Of the two, I think the Wiend recruits from being cosmopolitan are probably better; there doesn’t seem to be a choice to let Bethune (Nationalistic) lead a sub-group.

  8. Getting declared Eclect will also net you some additional followers/weapons. Yes, you will get some as well with going Skeptic, but that may also make the Ecclesiasts more pissed (which stands to reason).

  9. Going to the Brecks. If you can convince the Brecks to help you in gutting the sheep, you will get an additional gang of fighters as well. However, this will probably have the consequence of hitting your reputation with other factions.

  10. Having Sybla train your fighters helps, though to what extent I’m unsure. Usually I get as many arms, then have her train the people, but her cost definitely goes up with this.

I actually have no problem with the number of mules you get. I don’t think @Havenstone should nerf that. What I was referring to getting a little more consideration was the reputation bonus you seem to get with the yeomanry for paying back the gold. I think some of them would still be pissed with their mules stolen, even if their grain is returned.

Just a few more last minute observations/suggestions.

Possible bug:
I might not have noticed it since I did so many playthroughs, but at the very end, and if the MC is in a relationship with Breden…picking Breden to lead the group after you leave…Breden doesn’t give the ‘how can you leave me dialogue.’ (Note: I’ll do another playthrough later today to confirm this.)

Suggestions:
Given the set-up, romance with Suzane/Simon and Kala/Kalt aren’t as well developed (naturally)

However, if you can, I think you should have them say something as well when the MC leaves at the end of part 1, and if you don’t have them come with. de Firiac could say something about the Angels/Xthonos guiding the MC back to them, while Swineherd might say something along the lines of “do you really think I would be scared of Xaos?”

And just my own take on the mule thing @idonotlikeusernames mentioned. I actually think the mule situation is fairly ironed out. I know you don’t want the winter to be a cake walk for those who go the micromanaging route (and the min-maxers will figure out an optimum path anyways)…but I think it is just about right at the moment for more casual people who will return after trying it a time or two.

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Your playthrough is accurate I think, I never had any af those events or situations. You don’t have to piss anyone lol. I have a great reputation with everyone. And you don’t have to have 9,000,000 of people nor tons of weaponry etc. I mean have small group changes totally the game to the point my game and rest of you barely is the same. I think a guide should let clear You could go with a small no violent group. Due if not nobody would notice lol.

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