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Lost and afraid? Haunted by confusion or cursed with doubts? We feel your pain friend - you've come to the right place. Below you'll find a list of frequently asked questions about Call of the Kings (Call of the Warlords 2), with answers designed to lay whatever ghosts might trouble you to rest.

The FAQ is not final yet
Last updated 13/7 2008

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Is it free?
You can play the first 5 out of 6 episodes of the game for FREE using a Roamer Account. To play the final episodes and most of the multiplayer colonial battles you must pay a monthly fee of approximately 10 USD (to be announced).


How to start?
The player controls a noble family in the Empire of Khadoria. Your five initial heroes will be the Lord or Lady and the four heirs (random gender) plus one mayor per initial town. If your noble house has survived previous games or if you are a paying customer you will be able to transfer an additional 2-5 mercenary heroes from game to game. The heroes? basic effect is to boost the armies with magic and attack power. The more they fight the better they get. Scavenging dungeons for items will also improve the heroes.
As a player you will initially be presented with your towns and an income that you can spend to improve your towns, armies and political relations. Mines, outposts and forts can be built outside your cities. From here you will have to build your business and by conquest and diplomacy get more towns and eventually player vassals to join your kingdom.


Is the game persistent? Can you actually win a game?
The game is persistent and the game will continue even if the player is not playing. Players will be able to log out and log in again later. But some games will be fast and short and they can be ended within a short time span. Other games will potentially take months or even years to win, and to log in a few times a day may be sufficient. The victory conditions of each scenario could be:
- Conquering and holding the Imperial City for an amount of time.
- Control a set amount of towns (ie. 60%).


Will there be a storyline?
In the first episodes you will take control of Aeron and through him and the Mirror Black you will be guided through the basic features of the game. The lands are in turmoil and every family of the nobility has a claim to the Imperial Throne. The first kingdom to conquer the Imperial City and hold it for a few game years will win the game.

After Episode 5 there will not be a linear storyline as the players will create history by the choices they make in the game. All through the game small events will change the statistics of the towns and add atmosphere to the game with bandits roaming the countryside, plagues, greedy mayors kidnapping beautiful maidens etc.


How will you preserve a good "fantasy atmosphere"?
We have chosen to supply the players with randomly generated hero and family names. This may seem outrageous to some people but we will make sure that there are plenty of fantasy names to choose from.

Aliases can still be used in the public chatrooms. In special circumstances we may reward players with the opportunity to create their own hero and family names.


Will there be a way to limit your games to just you and your friends?
Yes. If you have an upgraded account you will be able to make passworded games.

The best amount of players in a colonial game will range from 8 to 100+ per game as one of the best aspects of the game is diplomacy and communication.


Is it real-time?
Yes, the game is run in real-time. All players can interact at the same time and the results are seen immediately. It is not a classic RTS game with multiple units swarming about. Instead of tactical micro management we move entire armies. So you could say that Call of the Kings operates on a larger scale using families instead of a single hero, and armies instead of singular units.


How long is a game?
That depends on the scenario chosen. The game speed depends on whether it is a Colonial Frontier battle in one of the Imperial Colonies or the long power struggle in the Central Empire of Khadoria. The Frontier Games will need focused attention for a few hours while the longer lasting Empire game will do fine if you log in to update a few times each day. Warfare in the long lasting game will still need some focused attention for an hour or two, but unlike the Frontier games the construction of infrastructure and saving for elite troops will take a long time.


Can your hero die permanently?
Yes, but it is your "families" that really matter. You begin a game with a family of heroes and army commanders. Some or all of these may die during the game and if your monarch is killed an heir (weaker) will take the throne (unless all your heirs have been killed).

Players will at the end of a game be able to resurrect dead nobility and transfer a few (more if they win a game) of their mercenary heroes to the next game. Heroes can only die permanently from old age.


Do you have a Clan & Community system?
A number of Clans will become available to the players introducing a hierarchy and forums for the players across games.

The general idea will be for the players to organize and discuss strategies. The player that founds the clan is the Clan Elder. His "vice president" is the Clan Master, who will be elected by the Clan Council of players. Common arch enemies of the Clan will be selected among the other clans by voting and all clan members will get benefits in their respective games when fighting against members of that specific enemy clan!

Each clan will have "initiates" waiting to be accepted as true clan members - "Council Members", a "Clan Master" and four Clan Guardians. The abilities attached to each of these different clan titles will be clarified later.

Clans in the Game:
You get bonuses when fighting the arch enemy of your Clan, and you can open estates and fiefs for vassals to enter the game directly from your own clan when you need help to defend your realm. In the Empire Game you will receive Colonial Revenues based on your clan title and the amount of honor accumulated by your clan.


You mention a feudal system? What is that?
In the game we will have monarchs and their vassals. Players can start as monarchs in games with vacant strongholds or join as vassals in an existing kingdom. Vassals add a bonus to their master's income and some masters will be able to set a kingdom tax, which is taken directly from vassal income and distributed among the high nobility of the kingdom. Players that have stayed in a kingdom for some time can offer to be annexed or to annex another player. A War Declaration sanctioned by the Empire will automatically add an offer to annex the houses in the targeted kingdom. So if the estates under attack decide to surrender they will become vassals in the other kingdom. Players that surrender in this fashion are unable to declare independence or change allegiance for a long time.

The members of the same kingdom cannot attack each other openly, but illegal actions like espionage and assassinations can be attempted. Actions that are considered illegal by Imperial Law can be brought before the Imperial Senate where a player vote can determine the punishment of the culprit.

Player vassals may eventually - with the support of other players - declare their independence and form a new kingdom of their own (they will loose all benefits and technology of the old kingdom).

A player holding the Imperial Capital may gain the title of Emperor or Empress.


Can you have more than one account?
Yes, in Call of the Kings, The Mirror Black, you are allowed to have more than one PAID account. But each account can hold up to nine families and the families can be played simultaneously in separate games. So the need wont be big. We will only allow two accounts from the same location to access the same game. If we discover that a player is using more than 2 accounts in one game we will close them all without reimbursement.


Is there anywhere to download a copy of the table top version to get familiar with the rules etc?
There will not be released any tabletop versions of the game as the game will run exclusively online. A detailed guide will be posted on the site when the game is released.


How will the game be played? Java? An actual program? Or html?
The game will be launched using Java Webstart. After an initial small download the game will continuously update and download all missing files to your computer. All the graphics and music will be downloaded either as a package or on the fly when new items are encountered. The game itself is a Java application and will be playable on Windows, Linux and Mac.

ENCOUNTERING BUGS
When you encounter an anomaly, that being stuff mysteriously disappearing or appearing without logic or explanation - please report it.

If you encounter script errors please report them including some text about where and when. There will be a pop-up prompting you to report the error.

If you encounter game blackouts during play, loops or anything resulting in no game progress - please report it.


REPORTING BUGS
Mail all bugs to our biologist at bugs@callofthekings.com.
Always describe the anomaly in detail (where you were in the game, what you could see, what button did you press, what appeared, what did not appear (i.e. when buying stuff)). And please specify your type of hardware, memory and operating system.

Please only report bugs which are not already posted in the Forum.


SUGGESTING NEW FEATURES AND CHANGES
You are VERY welcome to suggest new features and changes to the game and to discuss them in the Forum. What is good and what is bad? We will read everything posted and hopefully be able to comment most suggestions. Our main priority will be to fix bugs and make the scheduled features (as described on the game site) available. We consider all suggestions e-mailed to us or posted in our forums as non-confidential and non-proprietary.


Got a question about Call of the Kings?
Ask us at info@callofthekings.com!
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