I guess I should have been clear about new towns. I did intend to say that the first town is the capital, however I am not sure what kind of diplomatic roles it would have. Seeing as Diplomacy is not really apart of the game at the moment; making a town the capital gives it only a title and nothing else. In order for Diplomacy to make more sense (and thus giving the title of Capital a purpose), you would need to encounter other Diplomatic Entities (Towns that are similar to yours). This could be achieved through NPC towns (not outposts), and these would not be towns you could acquire via quests. Instead you could either make an alliance (thus opening up Diplomatic relations in regards to trade and Military support), or make that town an enemy (which could possibly lead to war).
Things that can be done with an allied town:
-Trade routes
-Military Support (requesting aid for smaller towns under siege)
-Exchange information (learn new crafting recipes that cannot be gained any other way)
Things that can be done with enemy towns:
-Espionage (Stealing Crafting recipes and Gold)
-Sabotage (stealing and destroying resources)
-Assassination
Trade Routes: This will work just like previous trade routes with one key difference, which is Tariffs. When trading with another town a gold fee will be applied when selling goods. Your Capital will determine said fee, and depending on what you set it at (for now lets jus t say Low/Mid/High) this will affect how another town’s people will feel about you and your kingdom. This is important for if their feelings towards you drop to low, they will become enemies. But if raised high enough they will offer an alliance. Quests will be used to open Diplomatic relations (in other words this puts you in a good light).
Military Support: Upon establishing an alliance you will be able to call upon your allies for help, should a town(s) fall under siege. In the town info menu, a new section called allies will appear. Here you will be able to see the stats of the town. These include the following:
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Town relations (shows a bar similar to hearthling’s happiness bar, but with angry on the left instead of sad)
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Quests Completed (shows something like “2/5” and when 5/5 is reached, a dialog event will occur and town relations improve. Also possible rewards)
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Tariff rate (how much gold per item you are charged).
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Military strength (says Low/Mid/High Tier. Low would be all footmen while high would be maxed out knights and archers)
Next to military strength will also be a button that summons help, you will get a defend area icon on your cursor when clicked. After that it works the same as telling one of your hearthlings to defend an area. The allies will send troops from the nearest town to defend. Be warned however, because for every one of their hearthlings that die, your relations take a small hit. If their entire forces die, they will not send aid for the next week. Also your relations take a HUGE hit. Meanwhile if your healers and herbalists take to healing their wounded, you will win favor with that town.
Information Exchange: Once you have begun trade with these towns, you will have hearthlings approach your town for an exchange of information. This information can be from the following:
-Recipes
-Blueprints
-Locations of rare resources
-Rumors of hidden treasures
-Class ability info (exceedingly rare, will instantly level a class by one)
As for Enemies, the process is quite similar but is done through force rather than honest trade. This will also add a Shinobi (Ninja or Spy) class as well. Shinobi hearthlings will have abilities that help them infiltrate enemy camps and towns in order to carry out actions against them. High Intellect leads to higher chances of success, but guards with high intellect will also have a higher chance of detecting your Shinobi. Be warned for enemy towns will be able to train Shinobi as well, so guards with high intellect will be very beneficial.
There is one drawback, enemies may kill or capture a Shinobi on sight depending on their Spirit attribute. Low spirit would cause them to surrender and be captured. High spirit would force them to fight to the death (while trying to flee).
If a Shinobi has High Intellect, He or She will try to make an escape if captured. If the task was done successfully, then the Shinobi will return with rewards in tow. If they failed and escape there may be rewards but not as great as a successful mission. If captured and the Shinobi did not escape, the enemies will eventually allow the Shinobi to leave (any equipment that you made for them will be taken however, but not including the promotional item). But this will take from a week to a month.
-Espionage: This will allow you to gain the same things that Information Exchange gives you, but with the added bonus of stealing gold. You can also gain information on Hearthlings (their class / attributes / personality).
-Sabotage: A good way to weaken your enemies without directly attacking them is to destroy or steal resources. You can also destroy barriers and turrets used for that town’s defense. Later abilities for the Shinobi could allow you to place monster bait in order to lure strong monsters to a vulnerable enemy town.
-Assassination: Another way to not only weaken an enemy town but destroy their moral. By using this method you can remove a town’s ability to farm / craft / or defend its citizens.
There are two major negatives to attacking enemy towns in this manner vs attacking a goblin camp (or any other monster stronghold). When attacking an enemy town in this way, your hearthlings moral will be affected negatively. This could lead to a devastated Town moral, and thus lead to criminal activity. The other major negative is the enemy town declaring war. A message similar to the goblin one will appear (notification with a scroll icon). The notification will say “You have been given an Ultimatum!” The Ultimatum (for those who don’t know what this is) is a demand that must be fulfilled; if not then the kingdom that sent it will declare war.
War Time: The warring town will send war parties in waves (They will spawn special War Time Troops instead of sending civilians and Guards). Every five waves a “Conditions for Surrender” will be sent. With each set of waves, the class, level, attributes, and equipment will improve. Every 3 sets of waves (every 15 waves), the number of troops per wave will increase (waves will not be sent rapidly but every few days or so).
Surrender: Depending on how many “Conditions of Surrender” you have rejected, your capital will be occupied between a week to a month. During this time, you will not receive new villagers, all your combat hearthlings will be forced to become workers, half of your crops farmed will be handed over to your enemy (each day), half of the gold you earn will be handed to the enemy (each day), and you cannot craft armor or weapons. The only positive is that the occupying soldiers will protect your hearthlings during the time your combat units are disarmed.
If you plan to win the war (whether by forcing the enemy to surrender or crushing them beneath your boot) you will have to do more than defeat the waves. You must do the following:
-Defeat Five waves and reject their “Conditions for Surrender.”
-Destroy all siege engines (they will spawn one per five citizens in their town, 45 citizens = 9 siege engines).
-Defeat enemy commanders (One commander per Ten citizens, if less then ten citizens then one spawns regardless).
-Destroy or Capture enemy’s Town Banner: Once the other two conditions have been met, one of your combat hearthlings will approach the banner and a dialog box pops up with two choices: Destroy or capture.
-Destroy: The town is plundered and the villagers are exiled. The Town is then leveled. This is the swiftest and least costly way to win in terms of resources. The drawback is that your Town moral will drop severally.
-Capture: The town is put under your control but its citizens will not trust the people of your kingdom and rebel combat parties will periodically spawn from nearby camps (similar to small goblin camps without chiefs). Raising the occupied town’s trust in your kingdom will be done via quests; this will help rebuild the town (often these quests will cost resources and gold to complete). Once they become neutral towards you, a choice is presented: Let them become another NPC town or absorb them into your kingdom.
The only reason the War Time aspect seems costly and difficult is due to the Nature of War: Costly in both lives and resources.
Side note: There is one more way to end a war, but there will be no winners. This will also be the most costly option: A War of Attrition. The enemy’s moral will eventually drop to the point where their hearthlings will rebel if the war goes on any longer. The same can happen to you, in the form of those rebel camps spawning. If you manage to outlast the enemy, they will send a "Declaration of Ceasefire."
At that point the war is over, but your capital’s moral is in the “Danger Zone” and must take time to recover. Rebel camps WILL spawn during this period until Moral is no longer in the Danger zone.
This is all I can think of in regards to diplomacy. Also, the resources used for diplomatic relations and war time are all pulled from the capital. Which means the capital NEEDS to thrive. At the same time rare resources that will benefit the capital may only be found via exploration, starting new towns, and trade routes.