MILITARY | Lionhearts

The military of each kingdom is the branch that concerns warfare and most of politics. The following is the military hierarchy within each kingdom, which is operated and structured in a decentralized manner.

Monarch
The Monarch is sole overlord of the entire Kingdom and Dukes are their vassals. The Monarch unlocks the Diplomacy skill tree and control of the Capital Duchy. The monarch has their own “national retinue,” which, by default, includes new military enlistees in the kingdom.

Duke

Dukes own duchies and have their own retinue and Lords’ retinues as vassals. Dukes can also start rebellions against the monarch of a capital duchy or betray them for a rival monarch after being conquered in exchange for keeping their duchy.

Lord

Lords can start and lead a retinue and can own a lordship of land within a duchy. A lord’s retinue is his personal army, called to fight for him and his duke or monarch when the time comes. A lord’s retinue is a great place to gather friends under one banner to fight alongside one another for a common goal.

A retinue is created by a lord and is comprised of a group of retainers or attendant enlistees. It is made up of a large group of knights, sergeants, man-at-arms, squires, and pages.

Lords can revisit and modify their armor designs at any time for a fee set by the kingdom.

After forming a retinue, a lord gains various responsibilities and opportunities:

Political participation decision making
Commission construction projects on their lordship
Delegate land plots for military, trade, or religious use
Ensure safety of caravans throughout their lordship
Defend their lordships against invasion
Set preferences for caravan launching and placement
Gain favor and power to potentially become a duke

A retinue is formed when a knight becomes eligible for Lordship by reaching the next tier of favor. There are several methods to become a lord after meeting the favor requirements:

A duke or monarch may bestow a Grant of Land through Feudal Service to an eligible knight
A wealthy knight can petition a duke or monarch to purchase a title, resulting in a Purchase of Land if accepted
A knight may attempt to usurp a lord, either through a Legitimized Usurp if accepted by the duke or monarch, or a Conquest by Revolt if declined

Once a knight becomes a lord, they can establish their retinue through the following process:

Interact with the keep of a duchy or capital to begin the retinue establishment process
Customize their retinue's sigil and armor designs, adhering to any limits set by the monarch or duke

As a player's retinue expands, its leader may feel the need to delegate duties to their knights. Establishing and operating a retinue is one of the first steps towards becoming more involved in global politics and diplomacy. Members of a retinue directly interact with the world in a variety of ways:

A retinue's leader can establish uniforms for their retinue, and (if they are a duke or monarch) potentially apply ranges and limitations to the appearances of other Retinues.
Retinues will fight alongside each other in persistent territory conquest battles
A retinue is responsible for the law and security of its direct lordship. When a caravan of goods or tax gold departs from a location, the members of the retinue are generally responsible for ensuring the safety of the caravan.
A retinue leader is responsible for arming their men via their dedicated armories and stockpiles

Combat is one of the core mechanics of Lionhearts. Anyone within a military hierarchy will need to master combat in some form to meaningfully progress up the ranks and become a valuable member of their retinue.

The combat system will be a directional parry and block based system where you select a direction both for attack and defend. Attacks are charged to scale damage and power. A right slash is defended with a left block/parry and vice versa. Players will also have the ability to use bows, battleaxes, spears, crossbows, greatswords, warhammers, daggers, and many more weapon types with their own perks and advantages for certain situations.

In Lionhearts weapon/armor progression involves both the obtaining of a higher tier and upgrading existing weapons.

For all weapons/armor there are 8 material tiers in the game:

Arsenical Bronze
Bronze
Wrought Iron
Cast Iron
Steel
Folded Damascus Steel
Wootz Steel
Cast Damascus Steel

As players obtain progressively higher-tiered weapons and armor, the damage/defense and durability of those items increases. All weapons are crafted and produced by real resources, and they cannot be generated automatically. If a kingdom has a shortage of weapons, it will affect the player's progression rewards.