COMMUNITY - FORUMS - GENERAL DISCUSSION
Mayor Packages Explained

Hi everyone!

I've seen quite a few threads from folks with mayor packages recently expressing some confusion about what the mayor package means and what sort of settlement you are supposed to pick, so I wanted to try to clarify that for you, if I can.

Here's how the mayor title works: When a mayor title holder selects a settlement, regardless of its size, they will become the chief executive of that settlement. This means that they will control the majority vote in settlements with voting arrangements, or they will hold the right to administrate the settlement if it uses a different system.

Many seem to think that a mayor must choose a town or they will lose something from their package. The confusion here comes from the fact that the name of the title is "Mayor" and there is also an honorific in the game that uses the same word. The difference is that the honorific "Mayor" is only applied to the chief executive of a town, while the mayor title applies to any player that purchased the right to govern a settlement.

So in that sense it's true that the elders of a hamlet or village aren't called "mayors," but that also means the "mayor" honorific doesn't apply to city or capital level settlement chief executives either, since settlements of those sizes use different honorifics as well. If we were to say that Mayor title holders could only be "Mayors" it would mean that mayor titles could only pick towns, which we certainly never wanted.

In other words, it was never our intention that the mayor title in your inventory would explicitly apply only to towns. You can see this in the description of the title in your inventory:

As that screenshot shows you, what you gain with the mayor title is explicitly stated:

  • You will name and govern a settlement
  • You will receive a cloak showing your status as a mayor title holder and your family crest
  • you will gain access to the crest making tool when it is available.

None of that changes no matter which size settlement you settle in. If you settle in a hamlet or village, you will become a elder with the majority vote in the settlement's council, giving you control over the settlement's political decisions. If you settle in a town you will become its "mayor" also giving you control over the settlement's political decisions. If you settle in a city you will become its magistrate, but again you will find yourself in control of the settlement's political decisions. And, finally, if you settle in a capital you will become its governor with, as you can probably guess at this point, control over its political decisions.

Each of these honorifics specify the same thing: You are governing the settlement.

However, while your personal benefits don't change based on the size of the settlement, the different settlement sizes do have different features associated with them. For example, the land management table is a feature of a town or larger sized settlement, so a mayor title holder that settles in a village or a hamlet will need to grow their settlement into a town to enable that feature.

What all of this boils down to in Domain and Settlement Selection is that a mayor can pick any sized settlement without losing anything from their package. There is, however, one rule that will restrict your choices: If the county you are picking your settlement from doesn't yet have a count you cannot pick the last Town+ sized settlement in the county. This does mean that in a county with two settlements, one town and one hamlet, a mayor could only pick the hamlet. But, on the other hand, it also means that in a county with a capital, a town, and 3 hamlets, nothing is stopping a mayor from picking the capital, and leaving the town for a potential count.

Hope that helps! :)


  • Snipehunter
...
8/23/2019 7:11:41 AM #1

So much room for intrigue. Should be fun.


8/23/2019 8:02:59 AM #2

I have a question about what will happen to villas and manors that come with higher mayor tiers and that also got upgraded last KS anniversary iirc.

It has been said, those buildings are not personal house of a mayor, but more like seat of power for mayors in that settlement with land management table in it (please correct me if I mention something wrong)

How does that translate into mayors picking hamlets or villages? will they lose that building as there is no land management table? or it will still act as a main governing building of village elders, just lacking the table.

Edit:

Another question is

As that screenshot shows you, what you gain with the mayor title is explicitly stated:

You will name and govern a settlement

What kind of actual governing we're talking about as village elder? if everything is done via council or voting. What actions are available to village elder besides him having most votes?

8/23/2019 9:14:15 AM #3

Posted By Snipehunter at

In other words, it was never our intention that the mayor title in your inventory would explicitly apply only to towns. You can see this in the description of the title in your inventory:

Thanks for this post Snipehunter and although I agree with you the problem is that Caspian made several mentions in the past that there would be enough Town+ sizes for every Mayor title ever sold and that the only reason we would pick a smaller settlement size would be if the locations really sucked (in regards our personal goals).

Although the first part of his statement is true what it was not taken into account was that the majority of these Town+ sized settlements were actually reserved for NPC counts and therefore the holders of Mayor titles will be mostly stuck with hamlet or village size towns, adding insult to injury having extra parcels from extra mayor titles does not automatically make your settlement Town+ (even if it reaches the required thresholds) and instead forces you to go trough the political process in Expo

So being led to believe for so long that a Town+ settlement was virtually guaranteed you can see why there would be disappointment at this stage but hey, at least we can "fix it" for $375 now... because that is totally what we were led to believe would happen during DSS


8/23/2019 2:46:53 PM #4

A little miffed over that last rule. I mean on one hand you could argue that all the count title holders should have picked their towns already. So the only other side of the argument is that you're keeping back a >=town for the NPC count.

While that makes sense for realism (counter argument: reclusive counts?) I don't really care too much about NPC's who have not contributed financially to the development of the game.

Puts a stopper in most of the locations I've been looking at on Selene; if I want to be in a town sized settlement - yet the ability to manage land was my primary driver for pledging at the Mayor level.

I was drawn in by having that extra layer of play. A UI to plan out the town, something any lover of sim style games would drool over.


[EU] The Town of Farwatch Selene (Hrothi) - Demalion/Dae Erath/Ash County - Masonry, Scouting/Cartography Animal Husbandry, Agriculture Smithing, Tailoring. Light RP, Casual & PvP Welcome.

8/23/2019 3:07:32 PM #5

Posted By ZeroCool at 07:46 AM - Fri Aug 23 2019

I was drawn in by having that extra layer of play. A UI to plan out the town, something any lover of sim style games would drool over.

You still have the opportunity to obtain that UI, just gotta put the work into making your town successful and expand, it'll just be a bit more immersive because you would have to start a vote every time something needs changed to the settlement, and you win the vote by default so shrug


Mayor of Gartalia, A short distance south of the Holy Capital of Victrovia, Melonia - Friend Code: 464345

8/23/2019 3:22:50 PM #6

I personally made my decision to purchase the Mayor level due to the wording that lead me to believe they would get a town+ sized settlement which came with the management table. I cant speak for all the other mayors that are upset about this but the problem for me isnt the title. I picked this specific package for how the management of the settlement would play. If I wanted to build a hamlet into a town I would have just done bloodline or purchased parcels and I'm sure I'm not the only one who made their purchases based on miss leading descriptions. And just so I dont get piled on the descriptions of the items in my inventory do not count as the purchase has already been made at this point. I'm talking about the pledge package tiers that use to be posted. Also a bit upsetting as I passed on the kickstarter and then waited 2 years for the core mechanics to develope before I made my purchase. Would have thought I had all the information I needed by that time but I guess not.


8/23/2019 3:29:24 PM #7

@Snipehunter this is incorrect. To be fair, the package was made before you joined the team but here is the exact wording from the KS package:

Choose your town/stronghold & name it

Original Packages

While we were told some time after KS towns would be sparce, SBS did infact advertise the package during KS and for some time after it, that you got a town. So anyone who donated and isn't keeping up is going to be upset when they come back from KS and see they don't get a town.

I understand it's kind of a what's done is done situation, but the original intent was to give mayor/baron packages a town and was advertised as such.

Edit: You may want to consider just giving sweeping EP bonuses to mayor packages since they don't get that much so they can at least build into a town faster during expo.


I don't know anymore.

8/23/2019 4:05:06 PM #8

Another thing I would like to mention is that yes, while there is that argument - sbs said that everyone will get a town, it maybe just not exact spot where you want. I understand if we were talking about not being able to pick a town because specific county didn't have one, or all towns in that county/duchy were occupied by other mayors, that's one thing. But what we see now in certain biomes, like salt marsh, alpine forest, swamps, is that there's basically no towns available to mayors to begin with. There's tendency to have a town for a count and villages and hamlets for mayors. Often having only about 5 or less towns for mayors or just none. So we shifted from "there may not be a town for you available in your duchy if it was taken" to "there is no town available in your biome, please change kingdom/biome to get at least a town"

8/23/2019 4:52:33 PM #9

Posted By Abigor at 01:02 AM - Fri Aug 23 2019

I have a question about what will happen to villas and manors that come with higher mayor tiers and that also got upgraded last KS anniversary iirc.

It has been said, those buildings are not personal house of a mayor, but more like seat of power for mayors in that settlement with land management table in it (please correct me if I mention something wrong)

How does that translate into mayors picking hamlets or villages? will they lose that building as there is no land management table? or it will still act as a main governing building of village elders, just lacking the table.

The Land management table is in the town hall of a town sized settlement, not the manor. As I understand it, the manor remains the property of the settlement when you leave your position as chief executive though. I will double check that and get back to you, in case I'm wrong about that.

What kind of actual governing we're talking about as village elder? if everything is done via council or voting. What actions are available to village elder besides him having most votes?

As a member of the settlement's council you can present decisions for the settlement (e.g. how to use its parcels, what to build, how to use the settlements resources that aren't being exploited solely at the citizen level, etc.) council to vote on... and with the majority vote, you will be able to accept or reject any such questions put to the council. You are its governing executive. Unless you allow the ratio of vote holders to change and give up your majority, it is functionality equivalent to being the mayor of a town, save you do not have the land use table found in the town hall.

Hope that helps! :)


  • Snipehunter
8/23/2019 5:02:02 PM #10

Posted By JohnWhite at 02:14 AM - Fri Aug 23 2019

Thanks for this post Snipehunter and although I agree with you the problem is that Caspian made several mentions in the past that there would be enough Town+ sizes for every Mayor title ever sold and that the only reason we would pick a smaller settlement size would be if the locations really sucked (in regards our personal goals).

I am not Caspian, so I have no comment on what Caspian has said or didn't say, or how folks interpreted what he has said or hasn't said. The purpose of this thread is to explain how the package mechanically functions in Domain and Settlement Selection and what that means for players.

But please, don't take that to mean I want to shut down your complaint! If you feel like there's some issue here with something Caspian has said, I'd suggest asking him directly about it when you see him, e.g. in discord, starting a thread to discuss that issue specifically, or sending a ticket to [email protected] about the issue. I just don't want folks who are simply looking for concrete information to end up confused by other, tertiary conversations.

Thanks!


  • Snipehunter
8/23/2019 5:13:15 PM #11

Posted By Snipehunter at 7:52 PM - Fri Aug 23 2019

Hope that helps! :)

It does a lot, thank you for the reply!

8/23/2019 5:17:18 PM #12

That's for the clarification! I never planned a town+ and always was looking into getting a hamlet but I can see other peoples issues and complaints too. Hopefully this will help them understand what is going down!


8/23/2019 5:17:33 PM #13

Posted By ZeroCool at 07:46 AM - Fri Aug 23 2019

A little miffed over that last rule. I mean on one hand you could argue that all the count title holders should have picked their towns already. So the only other side of the argument is that you're keeping back a >=town for the NPC count.

Each player's pick time indicates the start of when they can pick. There is no rule stating they must pick at that time. Because of this it is mechanically impossible to guarantee all counts have chosen by the time mayors start to pick.

While that makes sense for realism (counter argument: reclusive counts?) I don't really care too much about NPC's who have not contributed financially to the development of the game.

Actually, we don't consider reserving space for NPC counts necessary. Again, the rule is in place because there is no way to guarantee that all counts have picked by the time a mayor's pick time arrives.

Puts a stopper in most of the locations I've been looking at on Selene; if I want to be in a town sized settlement - yet the ability to manage land was my primary driver for pledging at the Mayor level.

You can individually set the rights of every parcel you have the rights to do so with. The ability to manage your land isn't gone at the hamlet or village level, it's more that the way you go about it is different and presents its own challenges. You can't just zone a parcel as commercial or something via the land management table, but the council can vote on how it wants to use the settlement's parcels that aren't already allocated to residents, and you are then authorized to forge the requisite contracts to ensure the rights for each parcel are granted or rescinded as necessary to accomplish the voted on goal.

I was drawn in by having that extra layer of play. A UI to plan out the town, something any lover of sim style games would drool over.

Understandable. It is the central draw to the land management table. But starting small doesn't take that option off the table. Hopefully no one is thinking they're going to take over a hamlet or a village, and keep it that small. I mean, if that's your desire, I wouldn't deign to stop you; I just feel like the rewarding part of the settlement governance gameplay is growing your settlement so that it gains in notoriety, prestige, populous, and functionality throughout your reign as its chief executive. As a hamlet level chief executive, my goal personally would be to grow the settlement into a capital some day. To me, starting as a hamlet or a village introduces extra challenge, true, but it doesn't close the door on any of the things I'd want to do if I was looking at a settlement as a city-sim game.

Hope that helps! :)


  • Snipehunter
8/23/2019 5:23:12 PM #14

Posted By Takeda_Shinukage at 08:29 AM - Fri Aug 23 2019

@Snipehunter this is incorrect. To be fair, the package was made before you joined the team but here is the exact wording from the KS package:

Choose your town/stronghold & name it

Original Packages

That's never been what was in the title description in my time here, so I can't really speak to that. I would suggest sending an e-mail to [email protected] about that though; honestly I'd suggest that to anyone who has an individual issue with their package rewards. The forums aren't going to get you any resolution, I'm afraid.


  • Snipehunter
8/23/2019 5:43:35 PM #15

Thanks for the information, I always tend to wonder about this kind of stuff and it helps to find out more about it whenever possible!

My only fear I've ever had as a mayor is being voted out of my own position even if I'm doing my best at my job but I think at that point I need to do a good at my job as a mayor and plus also a good job at keeping order in the settlement.

...