1) At the end of this 10 year story, no one really knows what will happen. The developers could keep the servers going for another story arch, they could close the servers and start them back up having "fast forwarded" a few generations, or they could start an entirely new 10 year story set in a more technologically advanced period. It will depend largely on what we do as players and how well it is received. If people respond really well to this game and it makes the developers lots of money, chances are they will continue to keep things going.

2) Animals and NPC humanoids will have scripted behaviors fitting their role in the game, but the complexity of those behaviors is largely up in the air at this point.

3) Crafting will require both character skill and player skill to complete, as each crafting skill will have an associated user-based "task" (not saying it is a mini-game, but it is basically a mini-game) that determines the quality of the crafted product. Crafting will also give the option for researching better ways to craft for invention or efficiency, so there is going to be a lot for crafters to do. Items will degrade over time, with use, and for some items different components can be swapped out to change overall durability, appearance, or material composition.

4) Bloodlines will provide some mechanical bonuses as well as cosmetic features. I do not believe genetic diseases (mechanical penalties) will be included. No indication yet on how standard diseases will function.

The Story: I can't remember exactly where I heard this but supposedly the story is planned to be 10 years long? What happens at the "end" of this story? Will the "world" be shut? or will it simply keep going until another story (if ever) is placed in?

• 10 irl years. Sabbicat has a good discussion post here the game itself promises ten years on the Kickstarter page proper, ten years is quite a ways away, so I imagine if SBS is still making money and enjoying the game we'll see new plotline, or an extension of the "current maze" we're in!

Creature AI: Will the creatures that populate COE be as "intelligent" as the human n/pcs? For example will "intelligent" npcs such as say "goblins" form balanced warparties, instead of just being the old 1-2 classes in an area and the npcs dont even bother to help each other unless you get too close. And will these npcs also build their own kingdoms (Ala dorf fortress) if players/other npcs don't cull them? For example if "goblin group a" is left alone they will start building goblin huts or something and start doing goblin crafting leading to not just an increase in enemy density but quality as the crafting provides the group with better weapons, eventually they might elect/birth a "king" who will then launch invasions on other realms. Essentially will the environment be a credible threat to the player/realms? rather than just a stated enemy that just camps in their zones and only menaces people who go to them.

• I believe we're still using the Improbable engine. Check it out here or Google search it and check out the videos on it!

Crafting: Will crafting be "hard" or "soft"? by this i mean will crafting be like standard mmo's wherein item A needs item b for production, or will it be something like item A needs an item that is at least this "hard/resistant/does something", meaning that other items/materials can be substituted if it meets the requirements and using superior materials will appropriately give a superior product, While some games "approximate" this by adding "recipies" of higher grade it is not the same because you cannot mix and match as necessary (an area might have adamantite for making magnificent metal weapons but they only have poor quality poplar wood growing in the area, so spears made entirely locally will have good damage because of the superior metal but will have terrible handling/accuracy because of the poor quality wooden shafts)

• in this developer journal there is indication of a recipe based system, but with more skill involvement.

Genetics: will bloodlines also have detrimental effects? i.e. genetic diseases/conditions that may have to be bred out, In line with that will we also be having standard diseases/illnesses? (by this i mean long term dangerous afflictions which can spread rather than the short term slight debuffs that most mmos use)

• here's the design journal on genetics while there is some speculation on negative inheritance on inbreeding, I can't currently confirm.

I hope this helps!

For Creature/NPC Intelligence I believe it was stated several times through various outlets that NPCs will have their own Kingdoms, and they will try to work to benefit themselves. They have also mentioned "Ancient Evils" taking up residence in underpopulated areas, which implies that the creatures/NPCs will move around and settle in areas where players are not.

Also, the Soulbound Engine is supposed to react to player actions. I'd imagine the most common way for it to do that is by setting NPCs into motion.

We really don't have enough information, and I am just speculating on the current info we have though.

Posted By Valhallan at 08:28 AM - Tue Dec 06 2016

Yes i have heard about the NPC kingdoms, but from what i understand this only applies to the "Human" npcs, i.e. the ones that we are able to "possess".

Not sure what you mean with that, since we can possess any NPC then all NPC's will have the same "intelligence" so to speak. As far as I know, there is no different types of NPC's like what you describe, other than obviously different creatures and such that are not human.

On the off chance I'm completely wrong, why would they have two different ways they run NPC's. the whole point is immersion, they don't want you to know right off the bat if that person is an NPC or a PC.