Gruber wrote:Your point of view about medeival times is too much influenced by hollywood. There was no code nor "noble" knights. Those who were superior on the battlefield usually slaughter their enemys.
If there was a time for diplomacy it was long time before a battle, not after it.
The attacker had to win some battles to be able for a siege. The deafeated claim got many opportunities to accept vassalage in the past. At the point of a siege, diplomacy failed many times and there is no real reason to try it one last time. If there is a time to accept vassalage, it is before the start of the siege, not after the claim got wiped out.
Well you are free to have your opinion about "nobility" in this period. But let me remind you what vassalage means: it is a link of subordination to whoever you offer it, and that link is not always a reliable one and in no way an act of freedom. That was a common practice in the Middle Ages and no, it is not explained in Hollywood movies but in History books.
To give you Middle Ages examples, Moldavia was at open war with Ottoman empire then it became their vassals; Russian principalities became vassals to the Golden Horde which invaded them, etc.
Becoming a vassal is not an act of freedom and that comes in a situation of failure most the time. I don't want to make history again but to raise an idea that could fit this IB topic, Lif feudal environment in general and give good war alternatives for lot of players, I would definitely be one of them.
Gruber wrote:How is one forced to fight if he is not going to do it by free will? Are vassals automatically dropped on the battlefield, forced to fight by some black magic?
This topic is realy easy in real life, fight for your enemy or die on the spot. Ingame without permadeath, fight or die and respawn?
Forcing people by game mechanic is like a hostage situation, it is not going to be fun for everyone and most likely people will just stop playing LiF.
Vassals had to take part in the fight when they were called, so did the mercenaries. In a war (RL or igm), you fight for a cause which is higher than your will and this is valid for the members of your crew when they follow a lead too. That is why we have game mechanic like "Guilds". Even slaves during these times had to fight on the battlefield and of course it was not free will. Black magic is out of topic.
So I think it would be good to have this option ingame and after IB for a guild takes his decisions in his own responsibility whether they convert to the ennemy or die.
Bottom line and for the reason I raised this point as a beneficial option, I think Lot of players will stop playing specifically once they are wiped and that is as simple as that because of the nature of the game. This is a game for builders AND for Warriors, one doesn't work without the other. You don't have to be both types to play, but if you are not a warrior in the game then you will probably quit the game because your personal investment in lost hours will be more dissuasive and bitter. But we don't want that, we need both kind of players and definitely more players.