BitCraft's Empires System Will Introduce Competition for the Ambitious and a New Way of Cosmetic Monetization

BitCraft has a new devblog from the Clockwork Labs team centered around the sandbox MMORPG’s empire system. The system is part of their overarching goal of creating options for competition, strategy, and a form of cosmetic monetization too.

Empires will debut in the Alpha 2 playtest on the way. Where right now there are only settlements, the team will add empires as the next option. Part of their goals are to create an interdependence within this shared world, and settlements start that by including ways for trusted players to share resources and build together and to essentially progress together using their various skills in a general location. Empires have a “ less functional and more vanity-driven purpose” – namely, they provide ambitious players with a new way to leave their mark, get people to follow them, and grow their allegiance. 

As for how this grand scale option will work, it is competitive. And it will cost real money. They say the cost will be relatively low, but they're looking at this system as a way to innovate in terms of cosmetic monetization while keeping free access in general. 

The system is  designed around would-be emperors competing to own and control parts of the territory. Once you have a claim and set up your capital, that city can generate Hexite Capsules, which only come from a capital. You’ll need hexite shards to do that, though, and those will be paid items. This could be paid by you or via donations by those who believe in you and want to follow you as an emperor. Players that are aligned with your Empire can donate shards to the treasury. 

As your empire grows, you may need to recruit and assign rankings and duties to some of your citizens. Spending money to grow an empire and to purchase shards will not impact character or settlement progressions. It’s cosmetic. Ultimately, empire building is optional. 

If you do start an empire and you grow it with ambitions of something large-scale, you may have to use more time, money, and