In the world of Dark Age II, players are the masters of the city. Its player vendors who supply goods, players who pay taxes, and players who decide upon the laws imposed in a city. This guide is geared for people who rule a city, but can provide a good deal of insight into what cities in Dark Age II are like.

Ruler, Seneschal, Man-At-Arms, Guardsman

• A ruler can do everything except be inducted. That has to be done by a GM.
• Seneschal can do everything a ruler can except fire the ruler or induct a Seneschal.
• A Man-At-Arms can induct/remove guardsmen.
• A Guardsman can view the KOS/Jail lists as well as the Merchant/Guard lists.

To view the current list of guardsmen and rulers of a city, use .rulers

• Icons from top to bottom on the right: town bells, town bank, hire merchant, hire guard, hire merchant, jail, KOS, immunity, Rumours, town vault, other options.
• Pressing the ‘+’ next to the report values will show you a list of individual items in that category.
• Pressing a ‘-’ removes that entry from a list being viewed (if you have the rights to do that).

• Trade Taxes are calculated each town cycle as well as on a per transaction basis.
• Tax rate determines how much of each merchants’ gold goes into the town coffers.
• Tax rate also determines the additional cost tagged to house upkeep.
• Tax Rate increases the cost of all items sold by NPC Vendors in town. The tax amount goes into the town coffers.
• Tax Rate decreases the price of all items bought by NPC Vendors as the player selling the item must pay the tax to the town coffers.

• Are only enabled if the town rulers have enabled it.
• Passively withdraws every town cycle a certain amount of gold from the bank box of every citizen.
• Citizens who fall behind on taxes for eight consecutive cycles will see their citizenship revoked and their access to their bank box limited to depositing gold and withdrawing other items.
• Other implementations of the Passive Taxes for towns that don’t use a bank box are under development.

It is possible to increase the amount of wealth generated without raising taxes in a city. Every city can have three rulers as mentioned earlier. The diplomacy skill of each of the three rulers affects the total income the city recieves. Good diplomats will have an easier time collecting the cities funds and keeping it all in order. A city ruled by three diplomats with 100 skill will find their coffers in much better shape than a city ruled by three hoolagins with 0 diplomacy.

• Upkeep is calculated every town cycle. Its value depends on what guards have been hired and how much they cost each cycle to maintain.

It is possible to lower the cost of guards in a city. Three skilled rulers with leadership will find they are able to manage their guardsmen far better, keep food and armor readily supplied, and keep their troops happy. All of this will reduce the cost of upkeeping guards. Thus, a city ruled by three skilled leaders will find it much easier to manage the cost of guards where a city ruled by men with little knowledge of leadership and combat will find themself facing hefty costs for upkeeping an army.

• Upkeep is subtracted from Taxes every cycle.
• If the upkeep is greater than taxes for a cycle, the extra amount is taken out of the gold vault.
• If the gold vault run out of gold, guards are released in the order they were hired until the upkeep can be paid for that cycle.

• The town vault is available for use by anyone of rank Guardsman or above in the given town.
• It is susceptible to the same container limits as banks and other containers.
• Vault chest icon is the last one on the bottom, it will be a golden chest as opposed to the town bank which is a silver box.

• Guards require an initial purchase cost and an upkeep cost every town cycle.
• When a guard is released, 25% of their initial cost goes back into the town coffers. *This only occurs when the guard is released by a player, and not when the guard is released due to upkeep costs being greater than the town coffers.
• Guards will port back to their post if they are outside their patrol range for too long.
• Guards do not respawn if killed, you must hire another!

• Player guards receive wages directly into their bank box every town cycle. If the town or district they are guards in does not possess a bank, the wages will be deposited into the bank of the leading town or district, of which the guards should be citizens.

• Have a very high initial purchase price.
• They will port back to their shop if they are away from it too long.
• They do not respawn if killed!

• Merchants will hide to avoid being killed by enemies.
• Guards will KOS anyone on the Jail list as if they were on the KOS list.

• A guard will attack the criminal as if they were KOS.
• At each hit, the guard will make a test vs. player STR/DEX and if successful, the player will be thrown in jail for the time specified by the town ruler (5-30 min).
• You can bribe the jailor to let you out early. Price will vary according to how much time is left
• Bribe money goes to the town coffers.

A clerk NPC or scroll in each town allows characters to perform actions towards the town, and consult information.

• View the list of Town Guards
• View the list of Citizens
• View the Policies of the town.
• View brief information about allied towns.

• Apply for Citizenship.

For every alliance between towns, there is a leading town. This town’s allies inherit:

Kill on Sight, Jail on Sight, Immune and Guardsmen lists from the leading town. Rumours spread in the leading town.

Town alliances are defined by the staff, depending on what the In-Game situation at the time is.

Ruling a town takes strategy and good resource management. The town is composed of may parts (merchants, guards, taxes, houses, etc). If any of those fail, or are not managed properly, you can quite literally drive your town into the ground.

Merchants are the lifeblood of your town. They give you taxes whenever they buy or sell anything, they give you money at tax time. They are also very expensive to entice to come to your town, and therefore you should be protecting your investment. The best way to cripple a town’s defenses is to kill or force the merchants out. It is imperative you have at least 1 or 2 guards near every merchant, otherwise you are throwing away good gold.

As merchants are the lifeblood, guards are the skin of the town. They protect it from the scum and villainy that abounds throughout the Empire. You want to have a lot of guards patrolling your town. If your town is not safe, no one will come to it to do business! The biggest and toughest guard is not always the best solution. Stronger guards cost more, and they cut into the town’s profits. Most times it will be most effective to place 2 or 3 weaker guards at a location than one strong one. One guard may be distracted easily, but three are much more effective in discouraging that sort of behaviour.

The gold vault and town coffers are the heart of the town. They pump the precious gold through its veins. When the gold runs out, parts of the town begin to die. As long as you have merchants, the town should be making at least a bit of gold. Always make sure you have a surplus of gold in the vault. Should your town come under attack, you may loose many guards and those will need to be replaced ASAP. If you can’t afford to do so, your merchants may fall prey and your investments ruined overnight. Furthermore, should you fail to pay upkeep on your guards they will leave, one by one until upkeep can be paid. Place your merchants in secure locations where they will be safe. Do not put them in the open where they may be attacked from any number of directions.

Those that commit criminal acts in your town are automatically put on the Jail and or KOS lists depending on severity of what they do. If they wish to be removed, they must come to you or your lackeys (Sensechal and Man-At-Arms). Make them pay a fine to be removed, and thus grow the coffers of your town.

Use the town vault to equip your hired guardsmen. Leave extra arms and equipment for those guardsmen who fall prey to criminals, so that you are not left with a force of men, all unarmed and in loincloths. Not very professional at all. Always keep a surplus of items in the vault, especially weapons and armour for your troops.

You can tax your people to death, or you can be lax on taxes. Adjust them depending on the current situation. When at peace and during times of stability, taxes should generally be low. In times of war and when the town is under attack, raise taxes to acquire the funds you will need to repel the attack. Taxes can be as much a benefit as a bane to your town. If you set them too high, you risk loosing those who live there to other towns with lower taxes. But if you leave them too low, you loose out on the possible profits that could be reaped, especially if your town prospers in trade. Be wise, and gauge the opinions of your subjects.

Watch the rumour mill carefully. You MUST know what goes on in your town at all times. If you ignore this vital information you will never know what is happening within your domain.

As of Town System 2.0, there are a few political options that rulers can make.

• Hostile:

º if the town’s state is WAR, all non-citizens will be considered Kill on Sight. º if the town’s state is PEACE, entering warmode will warrant non-citizens criminal status.

• Friendly

º if the town’s state is WAR, all the characters on the Jail on Sight list will be considered Kill on Sight. º if the town’s state is PEACE, only criminals and members of the Kill on Sight list will be hunted down.

• War
• Peace

• Citizens only

Only citizens will be allowed to freely access their bank box.

• All

Anyone can freely access their bank box.

It is imperative that you think things through and plan for every situation when guiding the growth and prosperity of your town. Find out what your town has the most of and what it needs, and make sure you select merchants based on that criteria. As prices vary per item from town to town, encourage trade and even place those merchants who sell products at steep prices because your town lacks a nearby resource. This will attract merchants who will come here to make a profit, and thus pay taxes. Be shrewd, be calculating, it is your town, and your livelihood depends on it!