Hey All,

Thanks for all the feedback. I've read through all 11 pages of comments and wanted to take some time to answer some of the more common questions and concerns. This should help settle some nerves - which is important, as I'm afraid some of you are going to have a brain aneurysm.

Are people able to buy individual items from kits?

Yes. That's the whole point of a la carte purchases. The kits are there for many reasons, but chief among them is to lower the price on a set of related items which we felt were, as a collective, important to customizing peoples' individual packages. However, not everyone will need every item in a kit, so in those cases it's more cost-effective to buy the individual items people want.

Why the restriction on EP Kits?

Many people are upset that we put restrictions in place for the Kits, however we did so for many different reasons. Let me go through a couple of them:

1. Equity. First and foremost, the kits allow us to provide more items to people for less. When we first launched our Kickstarter over a year ago we included EP in the pledge tiers as a way for players to customize their packages. Today, we still want to make sure the backers get good value out of the EP they received as part of those packages. To make sure they get good value, we created kits which provide items at a 20% discount so we can fit more into the them. So in effect, the kits were designed to be purchased with the EP that comes with your packages, and to make the packages more equitable. But let's be honest, while our intentions were to make sure people didn't feel the need to spend more on EP beyond what comes with their packages, you all see a 20% discount and want to take advantage of it. Understandable. But this is an issue of balancing the equity of the packages vs. peoples' ability to buy an unlimited amount of EP. If you've got the desire to buy stuff above your package you're free to, but you'll need to pay full EP for it.

2. Applicability. Second, whether people realized it from my OP or not, most of the kits are not applicable to the lower tiers. For example, the Infrastructure kits come with enough road to create trade routes between key settlements in the county, or from inside the county to a strategic neighbor. That's way more road than a single settlement is going to need. Likewise, the religion, technology, and culture kits come with enough buildings, symbols, patterns, etc... that they can be distributed throughout an entire kingdom - or duchy if the Duke really wants to focus on those things for their duchy. But they include way too much to make them suitable for a county. That's not to say you might not want to buy individual buildings, symbols, etc. but the scope of the top kits are too much for a settlement or county to be cost-effective.

3. Responsibility. Finally, we also locked the kits to specific titles to emphasize the distribution of responsibility. It's the king's duty to set the technology, culture, and religion of their kingdoms. Similarly, it's the Duke's responsibility to reinforce the borders of their Duchy. Could a lower tier reinforce their county? Absolutely? But only the Duke has the tools and strategic objective of understanding which neighbors are a threat, which neighbors are weak, and where the military resources should be divided across the duchy. As stated before, that doesn't prevent people from buying their own defenses, it just makes it clear that it's the responsibility of one pledge tier to fulfill their obligations.

Can we gift EP?

You'll be able to gift items purchased with EP, but at this point we have no plans to allow gifting of EP directly. Gifting EP directly creates a support nightmare for us.

Barons vs. Dukes and Military Kits

As people pointed out, there's the Military Kits available to Dukes, but not Barons. After the explanation above it should be obvious why, but just in case...

1. The Military Kits have siege equipment, and enough defenses to cover much of the borders of an entire duchy. WAAAAY more than a single settlement needs. It's more cost effective for a baron to just buy the individual defenses they want.

2. It's the responsibility of the duke to defend their duchy. If the counts and barons spend all of their EP on defenses, they're not spending their resources where they need to, and they're letting the Duke shirk their responsibilities. Make them work for their title.

Were the prices based off the old or new pledge packages?

Prices were based off the old Kickstarter packages. You'll notice the prices of the kits align neatly with the prices of the old tiers. This is so they can customize their packages.

I can't afford the kit for my current tier and all previous kits

No. You can't. There's not enough EP in the packages - even with the 20% discount to afford both the current tier kit and the ones below it. Which is actually ok. When you move up to a Mayor, your focus is now on the success of the entire settlement, not just on your individual plot of land. However, chances are good your settlement kit is going to focus on the things you wanted to focus on anyways - ie, if you're a farming settlement, you'd likely get a farming kit. Since you get to distribute the buildings and such of the settlement kit how you like, feel free to claim one of the plots of land for yourself.

Similarly, if you're a count, your focus is now on the infrastructure and success of all the settlements, not just yours. However, you can distribute resources from harvesting, etc. to the settlements of your choosing, so feel free to funnel those resources into your own settlement if you like. Additionally, while you have less customization of your settlement now, don't confuse that with not having a settlement. The settlement was functioning before you claimed it and will continue to do so afterwards.

Caspian said I will lose my title eventually and I'm unhappy about that

Eh.. deal with it? No seriously. You need to come to terms. There's less than 2% of the population on a server that's nobility or aristocracy. Even if you manage to keep your citizens happy, and have no risk of revolt or uprising, your success will just serve to make your domain more desirable to others. While there's not a 100% chance, I can virtually guarantee that all nobility or aristocracy will lose their titles at some point during the 10-year story. You need to prepare yourself for that eventuality.

How does merging of accounts effect the constraints of the EP store?

If you have multiple accounts, and each has a domain, you can purchase the kits on each account before merging. However, if you plan to exercise the title transfer, and give your title away to someone else, be aware, your EP doesn't go with the title. You'll still be responsible for buying kits, etc. before handing over your title to them.

What about marriage?

The store looks at the titles you've purchased, not the titles you've received in-game. So marrying in won't allow you to get the discount on kits. Again, they're designed to add value to the packages people purchased.

What is a stack?

The economy, the cost to craft things in terms of materials, and indeed even the individual components required to craft some items are still being fleshed out. So we don't know exactly how many is in a "stack." But understand, it's intended to allow you to practice your trade, and should come with sufficient number to allow you to craft several different items.

Are contracts custom or pre-made?

Pre-made.

What crafting & professions are we supporting?

We're still working on the final list; however, our crafting professions work backward from the resources. We have both organic and inorganic resources and include various types of metals, minerals, plants, animals, glass, honey, and many others. I wager it'll be a broader set than you've seen before.

Are items in the list Individual or group items?

Unless they explicitly say, "for a set", or "for a stack" they're per individual item.

What kinds of pets & mounts are there?

Pets and mounts will cover a wide range. As you might imagine, the common, uncommon, and even rare are mostly just going to be non-magical beasts of the world. As you get into the treasured and legendary, the likelihood of it being a mythical beast increases. But keep in mind, animals in the world still age and die and fall prey to the same survival elements as everyone else.

What are the limitations on the more rare items?

First, I should probably adjust my terminology. When I was coming up with the list of names for the different "rarities" I recognized that they could, in some cases, give a false idea of what it means for something to be of a higher rarity. I did the best I could with a single list, however from the questions I've seen it's clear I need to split the list up into two smaller lists - one focused on items which truly increase in rarity, and another that increases in quality. In the former case the list of names might look something like this:

• Common: no limit
• Uncommon: Limited to one per paid account, but will typically always be available in the store
• Limited: Limited to one per paid account and will be available intermittently
• Rare: Will have a limited quantity, but may be available more than once
• Unique: Extremely limited - maybe to just one or two, and will only be available in the store once

The second list, focused on quality, might have names which look something like this:

• Standard - Of a standard quality
• Artisan - Of a higher quality than normal
• Peerless - Nothing of a higher quality
• Legendary - So well known it's become an item of legend
• Mystical - Likely to possess magical or mystical abilities

From this it's clear that there are some items which, while not necessarily increasing in rarity, might still increase in quality. A good example would be a wall. A wall doesn't necessarily become common vs. uncommon, however it might be standard, artisan, or peerless. And as I mentioned before, not everything in the store will go all the way up to Unique/Mystical. Walls for example, may only go up to Peerless. Though, a legendary wall could still be pretty cool.

What are rare to legendary items like?

Based on my previous commentary on the quality vs. rarity of items, let me re-address the list as two, and identify the things that are likely to increase in rarity, vs. the things that increase in quality.

Things that increase in quality

• Resource Stockpile: Higher quality resources
• Crafting Materials: Higher quality materials
• Contracts: More complex contracts
• Tools: More expensive, unique tools
• Containers: Larger, more reinforced, higher quality containers
• Crafting Stations: More specialized stations or more resilient
• Store Inventory: Higher quality items
• Decor & Lighting: More attractive, better lighting
• Furniture: Better materials, more decorative and ornate
• Transportation: Higher quality, higher seating capacity, more customization
• Caravan Wagon: Same as transportation
• Siege Equipment: More destructive - higher quality destruction?
• Furnished buildings: Bigger, better materials, higher quality furniture
• Fences & Walls: Stronger and sturdier, better materials
• Roads: Same as fences and walls
• Schools & Academies: Bigger, better construction, more specialized disciplines
• Cathedrals & Shrines: Bigger, better construction, more decorative, more ... benefits

Things that also increase in rarity

• Patterns & Techniques: More unique, complicated patterns & techniques
• Blueprints: More complex and interesting blueprints
• Equipment (clothing, armor, weapons): Higher quality materials, can also lead to legendary and unique items
• Livestock / Bee hives: Better strains of DNA
• Pets: More interesting and exotic
• Mounts: Better strains, and more exotic
• Crops: Better strains, more exotic crops
• Plants & Trees: Better strains, more exotic
• Land: More valuable - along waterways, trade routes, or having non-renewable resources