COMMUNITY - FORUMS - NEW PLAYER QUESTIONS
How to choose a kingdom?

I always thought it would be much simpler to choose my starting location. "I'll just go with the place that is the most geared towards what I plan to do", I thought. But, from what I can see, most kingdoms are pretty much the same, and even have many duchies that do a bit of eveything. They don't seem to be trying to specialize very heavily, both economically and morally.

It's always "We respect all kinds of gameplay", "We welcome adventurers of all races", "We fight for what's right", as if not all other kingdoms had said the same thing before.

Am I missing something? Will that possibly change after Domain Selection is done? How did you guys and girls decide which kingdom/duchy/city, etc... to join?


4/26/2019 12:10:20 AM #1

First you should think about the tribes and biomes and decide if they matter to you more than the community. If you have a spesific tribe/biome in mind you should look for a kingdom that is aiming for them. Domain and Settlement Selection should start next week which is going to lock down the domain placements so you could wait until then to see who's going where.

If the biomes don't matter to that much it's best to just join all the kingdom/duchy/county/settlement discords that interest you and hang around there for a while to get to know the people. After a while you will probably find some active groups that you want to join.

Either way joining the Discord servers of every kingdom of your planned server is a good idea. When I first joined the CoE community I rushed my decision with kingdoms and ended up regretting it. Later on with more knowledge it was way easier to find a more suitable community for myself.


4/26/2019 4:55:37 AM #2

I had much the same reaction as you did at first. But I think this "bit of everything" approach is driven in part because it offers players the best chance of survival and in part because we simply do not have information about what is actually going to be available to us yet or what we can realistically do.

I expect that the upcoming domain selection event will clarify much and create the kinds of distinctions you're hoping to see. But in lieu of such differences, the only way to decide is to get to know players in the various communities around here, understand what their interests are and whether they'd be people you would want to play the game with.

So with that said, what is it that you would like to do in CoE?


4/26/2019 10:15:15 AM #3

Yeah, you guys are right. I've been thinking about why they'd turn out like this and, well... people with titles - especially kings - paid quite a high price to get those, so it's understandable that they'd try and make their domains the most inclusive and catering to all trades as possible. They NEED this thing to work.

Hopefully, this could very well change once intercontinental travel is unlocked and new kingdoms are established by players that didn't exactly buy their titles so much as just conquered the land the old way.

To answer your question, Hieronymus, I'm thinking of either being an intertainer with a focus on physicality (acrobat, dancer...) or - if parkour/dance mechanics turn out to be shit - I'll go with a fabulous tailor.


4/26/2019 11:35:43 AM #4

Every kingdom and duchy will have to be fairly broad in their approach because they need a broad approach to survive. If a kingdom can’t provide for itself it’ll find itself at a disadvantage. At a duchy level while I intend for my duchy to be militant I still need to feed, clothe, equip and pay my armies let alone the people that support that (basically I need a strong and varied economy to support the specialism).

It’s really the county and town levels that specialisation will begin to appear, though even these should be able to diversify. My opinions on the flaws of specialist economies aside even the most specialised of settlements needs professions that support the populous.


Coming Soon(tm)

4/26/2019 1:02:49 PM #5

What are you looking for a kingdom that was just straight evil or more militaristic ?


4/26/2019 1:25:27 PM #6

I can try and explain it from the perspective of one monarch

in my 20+ year 'career' of playing mmo's i have built guilds both large (600+) and small (3)

CoE creates a challenge on a whole new level when we are looking at a kingdom having approximately 16,000 players - that's larger than 95% of real settlements in the USA

now throw into the mix the fact that the large majority of these you won't meet until the game actually launches, and they join your kingdom because that's where the game engine spawned them

toss on top of that the fact that unlike in real life where one might be tied down to where they live by family, job, real estate, friends, financial inability to relocate etc compared to online where moving is as easy as clicking on somebody else's discord (much tougher for titled players after D&SS) and you start to see the bigger picture of the challenge

so just like a large town in r/l you are never going to get 16,000 like minded people - however what we DO have is the ability to try and arrange the boroughs (duchies), neighborhoods (counties) and streets (settlements) in such a manner than somebody new can find the right home and not be concerned too much about arguing with their neighbors

on the surface level many of the kingdoms will seem similar - scratch the surface a little and you will discover otherwise


4/26/2019 2:47:58 PM #7

Learn more about the tribes and biomes. Decide what's more important to your style of gameplay. After that start looking into kingdoms and settlements in that location to see if there's a place that sounds good to you. Start at the stuff that makes the game fun for you, and then work towards a starting location.

Don't worry to much about choosing yet. When the game gets a release date is when players really need to start thinking about it. After the DSS on the 29th people will have a better idea of who will be in charge of the kingdoms and you can start looking into what they are like, but until those two things all people can really do is talk.


I have a Rocket Launcher. Your Argument is Invalid.

4/26/2019 3:58:35 PM #8

Posted By Guialdereti at

I always thought it would be much simpler to choose my starting location. "I'll just go with the place that is the most geared towards what I plan to do", I thought. But, from what I can see, most kingdoms are pretty much the same, and even have many duchies that do a bit of eveything. They don't seem to be trying to specialize very heavily, both economically and morally.

It's always "We respect all kinds of gameplay", "We welcome adventurers of all races", "We fight for what's right", as if not all other kingdoms had said the same thing before.

Am I missing something? Will that possibly change after Domain Selection is done? How did you guys and girls decide which kingdom/duchy/city, etc... to join?

While all kingdoms do offer all sorts of gameplay (every kingdom will need soldiers, blacksmiths, tailors, lumberjacks, farmers, traders, nobles, aristocrats, etc...) the kingdoms do have their differences. There isn’t much specialization yet because we just don’t have enough information about that yet, and kingdoms are big and need all kinds of players anyway. We will really start to see some specialization in games but even then there may be opportunities for every skill/trade in every kingdom. So choosing your kingdom based on what skill/trade you are interested in is not the right way to go about it.

First I’d consider which server are you on (North America east, west, Europe or Oceania?) and from there find a kingdom you like.

Kingdoms will all have their own location on the map, with each kingdom having between 2 and 4 different biomes and tribes. So if you’re looking for a specific tribe you’ll already know which kingdom you could be in, and especially if you know which biome looks good to you.

Kingdoms have also different philosophies on laws and governance and they have different cultures and societies. Try to join some on their discord and see how they behave.

Above all, don’t feel pushed to make a rash decision, first appearances can be decieving. And every kingdom is always looking for new members.

As for your desired profession, I could use some artists in my county.


Count LizenÇace VeLeîjres of Mydra's Crossing, VII of the order of the IX.

Order of IX

4/26/2019 7:59:18 PM #9

Specialization is best done on settlement level, the higher up you go the less specialized it will be because the regions must try to maintain greater diversity for the purpose of sustainability and player inclusion. So part of the problem might be that you're approaching this from a top down perspective.

I personally try to promote specialization within the settlements of my county at least as it will make it easier and more efficient in regards to how resources are focused when developing the region. My county capitol for example intends to have a focus on culture (scribing, politics, language, music, and art) and architecture, while my partners settlement is focused on subterfuge and guile. My county itself is focused on research and finance overall, which is a broader specialization, but it is that way because I want to lay a foundation any player can build on, not dictate what they should do.

However, even within the individual settlements, irregardless of specialization, you will still find opportunities for farming and other basic industries and services, simply because of necessity. Relying 100% on trade for necessities would make a simple blockade devastating, crippling, and even deadly; thus it's simply just not an intelligent move to try to be a pure one-trick pony.

In addition, a leader can't expect every player to conform to their plans: if someone sees the opportunity to be a smith in a location specializing in carpentry and forestry then that's potentially very healthy for that local economy; reacting by sending the "inquisition" on their door instead of adjusting your plans accordingly just make you an authoritarian turd. A good leader should be flexible and allow for things to develop naturally.

6/6/2019 5:41:36 PM #10

Join fortuna. Its king laid down his cash and then kept to himself. It is the closest this community has to a true free for all from what I know.


6/6/2019 5:59:12 PM #11

Fortuna is very interesting. Definitely stands out as one that is different from all the rest.


6/6/2019 8:52:27 PM #12

Hang up a picture of your servers political map. Proceed to play darts.

6/6/2019 9:15:50 PM #13

imo everyone should be more concerned with the first political body above them, as well as tribe/biome more than anything. Far too many unknowns this early on.

Kingdom-wide politics shouldn't be a big concern if you aren't a noble.


6/27/2019 7:01:17 AM #14

An entertainer? f you have a strict standard on what you will be performing, I guess you will have to wait till we have info on each tribe's dance /art to decide.

Though this is just my speculation, if we port the current structure(design direction) from crafting into performance of art, each tribe should have their own techniques in performing arts. And we also know musical instruments will vary across tribes.

To be honest, your kingdom choice is not as important as your settlement choice (after you locked down your tribe / biome preference). It is because you will most likely be interacting with people within your settlement most of the time. And it is them who would protect you from danger, sell you tools to perform arts etc.


Never argue with an idiot, cuz he will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Vice mayor of Lux Verloren