https://axiomsofdominion.substack.com/p/how-to-win-friends-and-influence?sd=pf
This is a new post about Friends, Partners, and Social Stuff in Axioms. It expands on and connects to my previous posts about Social Occasions, Opinion, Attention Points, and Desires/Interests/Personalities/Ideologies.
I've linked the post mostly because the formatting of the intra-substack links to relevant posts detailing specific things I talked about doesn't work on reddit for obvious reasons. I'm going to excerpt some sections here though as well as include some new thoughts.
Axioms Of Dominion is a strategy game I've been working on for a while. Maybe 3 years if you elide long breaks. One of the, many, unique things about Axioms is the in-depth character/social simulation. I looked at strategy adjacent games like Academagia, King Of Dragon Pass, and Kudos, and I tried to figure out how I could aggregate their systems while adding unique and more elegant stuff on top. My goal for Axioms is to more faithfully recreate the experience of being a protagonist, antagonist, or major supporting character on either side, of a speculative fiction story. Fantasy, science fantasy, historical fiction, etc. On top of a strategy layer that allows for more precise simulation of plausible alt-history or a fantasy equivalent. What is the difference betwee feudal vassals and the Roman Socii and can they be represented as meaningfully different in the same game?
Of course much like medieval aristocracy some of the most important and iconic parts of Roman society and history are the interpersonal dramas.
In Axioms you have to manage your "Attention", with the Attention Point system, such that you can cultivate a few key relationships, many more casual relationships, or even focus primarily on your family. Creating and intergenerational lattice of connections between you and key retainers or allies is both possible and meaningful in a way it isn't in games like Crusader Kings, much less more abstract 4x style games. Attention Points are also used for actual management type decisions and military ones, not just interpersonal stuff. You can't just micromanage every single thing every turn, and neither can the NPCs. Unlike GalCiv or Stellaris delegation is both necessary and typically effective with larger sized domains. Of course you can play a non-landholding character as well. Get a little Patrician 3 or Theory Of Magic in your strategy game shell.
As noted in more detail in the linked post maintaining regular relationships, real friendships, and also romantic connections is both important and nuanced. Characters have Interests that you want to be in sync to get the maximum relationship bang for your Attention buck. They have Personalities that make them studious and introverted or extraverted and prone to carousing. They have often specific desires. A father may want his daughter to marry a supportive spouse or a princess may want to be allowed to engage in meaningful non-domestic activity.
An important section of the post is about how if a Character already has four friends he does weapons training with becoming the fifth is hard but if he also has zero friends who study philosophy or magic you can find an opening there if you have the talent and inclination.
You can also do stuff liek break up a friendship by hosting a key political event the night of a party that two characters would otherwise attend and hang out at, making one character feel unimportant and creating a gap in the social circle of the other you can wiggle into.
Also unlike many games with "characters" if you murdered some guy's son he won't be willing to be a loyal general, giving you the power of his 44 martial stat, just because you gave him 40 gold. Or maybe he will? His son could have been a disappointment and he could be avaricious.
