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Today I took some time to design out the faction system (perhaps the most complicated new system in the game), and I thought I would share my thoughts about how it will be designed in the new system.

Creating and Joining a Faction
Any player with at least 100 points on the board will be able to start a faction. When starting a faction, the founder will be able to specify a faction name, image, and description (image and description can be edited afterwards too). The game will then add the faction and set the founder as the leader of the faction. Players can then join by going to the faction page (more on that later) and clicking the button to apply. Once a player applies, the leader may then either accept or reject the application. Until the leader has done one or the other, the player can also revoke the application, freeing them to join another faction without penalty.

In future seasons, alternative methods of joining a faction may become available (for example, automatically join by supplying a password), but for now I thought this was the most effective way of doing it without getting boggled down in building a lot of different ways of doing the same thing.

About Factions and the Factions Page
Factions will be listed on a Factions page, which will take the place of the game map when the right button is clicked. The first page will list all factions in order of number of members, and will include their faction image, name, # of members, and the option to join, leave, revoke leave, or revoke application depending on the player's status with the faction. Clicking on a faction will go to the faction page, which will provide those stats plus the description and list of members.

For Season 2, factions will have 4 levels: kicked (in the process of leaving the faction due to being kicked), prospect (applied but hasn't been approved or rejected), member (regular member), and leader (can set the description, image, approve/reject applicants, and kick members, and set the faction as open or closed to new applications). Only one person may be leader of a faction at a time, which will be the founder by default. However, the leader will be able to step down and name another member as the new leader. There may be room for more ranks and leaders in the future, but I thought it was best to focus on the basics for the system's premier season.

Leaving and Disbanding a Faction
When a member leaves a faction, they will remain in the faction for 12 hours, during which they will be able to choose to cancel their departure without needing to apply and be approved again. If a member is kicked by a leader, they will also remain in the faction for 12 hours, but will be unable to cancel their departure. Obviously, a faction leader will not be able to leave or kick themselves. They would need to turn over leadership to another member before departing.

In the same way, a leader can choose to disband a faction. If they do this, the faction will be closed and all members will be set to leave the faction in 12 hours. During this time, the leader can choose to cancel the disbandment, which will cause any imminent departures caused by the disbandment to be cancelled as well. Once disbanded, no other active faction can exist with the same name, as the current faction will still exist as a permanently closed and memberless faction!

Summary
Factionless Options: Create Faction, Apply to Faction, Revoke Application
Member Options: Depart Faction, Revoke Departure
Leader Options: Change Faction Description, Change Faction Image, Approve/Reject Prospects, Kick Members, Change Leader, Disband Faction, Open/Close Faction

If a founder has given up his/her position as leader, can they remove the current leader and place him/herself as the leader again at any time?

If a founder has given up his/her position as leader, can they remove the current leader and place him/herself as the leader again at any time?

Not unless the current leader was to transfer leadership to the founder. Once you give up leadership, you're just a regular member like most everyone else.

So the plan is for tiles to still be held by players, not the factions?

How will factions be displayed on the game board?

So the plan is for tiles to still be held by players, not the factions?

How will factions be displayed on the game board?

I hadn't planned on factions being displayed on the game board, figuring that the benefits of being in a good faction would give an advantage to each individual member which would then reflect on the game board. I can look into it more, though.

But yeah, tiles will still be held by players, so that players have the option of playing without having to join a faction.

Would it be possible to have a map mode for factions (like how there's an owner and leader status map mode)?

Would it be possible to have a map mode for factions (like how there's an owner and leader status map mode)?

Yes! I'll make sure of it.

Would that be two new map modes then, one for owners and own for leader status?

Would that be two new map modes then, one for owners and own for leader status?

Is there a use for a faction leader status?

Would that be two new map modes then, one for owners and own for leader status?

Is there a use for a faction leader status?

In Season 1 I pretty much exclusively used leader status, as it provided useful indicators on how well or poorly my tiles were doing. If a faction has strong teamwork such that people are treating other tiles of the same faction similarly to how they're treating their own tiles, a faction leader status would become far more relevant than personal leader status in both offensive and defensive purposes.

Then again, unless there's motivation for factions to behave in such a way, I suppose there's no reason for factions to be very strong (or perhaps even be used very much) at all. Which naturally brings us to another question: will there be legacy and tile leaderboards for factions?

Or are you still imagining this as more of an individual game still, just with factions, rather than being more team-based, analogous to TWBF vs. Spam Points?

I think a useful feature would be to stop members of a faction from harming one another, along with signifying faction membership so we can tell, at a glance, which faction has the most power on the map. Plus it'd be cool to see how the borders change as people move to other teams or as factions wage war against one another! (oh maybe have tile borders change colour, while the body stays the same, if a tile is associated with a faction)

I think a useful feature would be to stop members of a faction from harming one another

I think that's the main intent of factions given the original announcement topic:

Players who are part of the same faction will not be able to attack tiles owned by another player in the same faction, but will be able to attack tiles on behalf on behalf of other faction members. If the tile is owned by another faction member, members will be able to attack on behalf of the owner, else they will be able to attack on behalf of any fellow faction member.

Are we also going to expand the board a bit if we're adding factions?  Or do you think that would unnecessarily complicate the game?  More board space does leave more coordination strategy, which would be fun, but I'm not sure what complication is too much.  I am fanatically enthusiastic about this faction thing though, sign me up now!!

In Season 1 I pretty much exclusively used leader status, as it provided useful indicators on how well or poorly my tiles were doing. If a faction has strong teamwork such that people are treating other tiles of the same faction similarly to how they're treating their own tiles, a faction leader status would become far more relevant than personal leader status in both offensive and defensive purposes.

Then again, unless there's motivation for factions to behave in such a way, I suppose there's no reason for factions to be very strong (or perhaps even be used very much) at all. Which naturally brings us to another question: will there be legacy and tile leaderboards for factions?

Or are you still imagining this as more of an individual game still, just with factions, rather than being more team-based, analogous to TWBF vs. Spam Points?

I imagine that factions will be beneficial, but optional. People should still be reasonable able to play the game as individuals, especially if they're able to commit more time to playing. There may be variations on this in future seasons (pre-planned factions that someone must join at the start of the game), but overall joining a faction shouldn't be necessary to do well in the game.

If there were legacy and tile leaderboards for factions, it would just be the sum of their members legacy and tiles, so it wouldn't be difficult to throw in.

I think a useful feature would be to stop members of a faction from harming one another, along with signifying faction membership so we can tell, at a glance, which faction has the most power on the map. Plus it'd be cool to see how the borders change as people move to other teams or as factions wage war against one another! (oh maybe have tile borders change colour, while the body stays the same, if a tile is associated with a faction)

I believe that would be addressed with the suggested map modes and leaderboards. If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me.

Are we also going to expand the board a bit if we're adding factions?  Or do you think that would unnecessarily complicate the game?  More board space does leave more coordination strategy, which would be fun, but I'm not sure what complication is too much.  I am fanatically enthusiastic about this faction thing though, sign me up now!!

Probably not this season. Adding more tiles would require solving other technical questions, like will they fit on the screen with the tile names...do you make the tiles smaller and cut off or leave out the tile names, or do you keep them the same size and just make the game board bigger on mobile devices? I have some ideas here, but it'll probably be part of a future season.