Dear nobles,
We’ve already written a few times about ruling subjects, over whom the player-controlled nobleman has great power. However, it should be noted that he’s just one of hundreds of landowners, and there are also much more powerful aristocrats. So today will be about how to deal with the upper classes.
So, what’s helpful in diplomacy? Certainly, text interpretation skills, a young, pretty, and polite daughter, a good cook, capons and partridges, some monkeys, as well as hemlock or arsenic, just in case.
Letters
Let's start with the first thing listed. There are two primary methods of communication with other nobles in Noble's Life. The rarer one is a visit from the representative of such a noble or, on a special occasion, from the noble himself. The former can be heard by the player in the audience room (we've written about this mechanic in Dev Diary #4 - Peasants and Villages), the latter is similar, although in this case, there’s a possibility for a private conversation or a ball (more on that later).
However, this is the first method. The second, much more frequent, is communication through letters.
Screen showing letters writing mode. After reading the content of the message, the player selects one of the available options, which then turns into a reply sent to the recipient. That’s the basis of this mechanic, the development of which we’ll talk about in the future.
The letters can be about all sorts of things: requests for help, usually of a greater importance than the pleas of our subjects, warnings, land trade, offers of cooperation of various kinds, including matrimonial offers (our nobleman will have a family, which will be applicable to the game mechanics). Often, some matters require a longer exchange of letters, though balancing between not alienating the noble and being deceived by them in the process may be tricky. Of course, it's also useful to get to know the noble with whom the player is writing in order to determine, for example, whether it's worth it to play slightly unavailable or to not beat around the bush ;)
Often, some matters require a longer exchange of letters, though balancing between not alienating the noble and being deceived by them in the process may be tricky.
Gifts
Additionally, if the player character manages to acquire (e.g., buy from the merchants we wrote about in Dev Diary #5 - Visitors) or produce (by the hands of subjects) something valuable and impressive, he may consider using it as a gift.
However, among other things, we write about what unusual gifts you can give to other nobles in the rest of the Dev Diary on our Steam page.
