A few ideas to make social part of the game more interesting.

1. Introduce Kingdom goals. Kingdom goals are set by the King of a Kingdom, this goals can be predefined (e.g. accumulate 5 million gold or constructing some kind of monument), basically something that requires a certain level of unity within a Kingdom to accomplish.

2. Accomplishing the Kingdom goal translates to huge rewards to the King. The King will also be able to dispense/share the rewards with his subjects once the goal is reached.

3. Give the King some form of power over his subjects, nothing permanent but definitely felt by whoever is being punished. This allows the King to "unite" his subjects to accomplish the goal he has set. Of course doing so may actually "unite" players against a tyrannic King. This makes playing as a King a balance between carrot and stick to gather support for his goal.

4. If a subject has enough power (influence?) in game, he may lessen the punishment a King may be able to place on him. Realistic to a certain level as it is easier to punish a commoner compared to a powerful Duke.

5. After winning a war, if the winner is the attacker, the attacking King may delay the losing Kingdom's Kingdom goal in some form.

Basically I think adding some form of goal be it long or short term and more interaction between players will improve the social component of the game.. who knows you may end up having some disgruntled subject/faction working with another Kingdom to sabotage his own King's Kingdom Goal.

In short it's a mix of strategy, RPG and simulation for adult players.

I am not sure what you mean by "for adult players". What features of your game makes it more suitable for adult?

In short it's a mix of strategy, RPG and simulation for adult players.

I am not sure what you mean by "for adult players". What features of your game makes it more suitable for adult?

It means kids are not allowed to swear (in the in game communication channels) and horny teenagers are not allowed to post links to porn sites :)

Also, the game play intensity is acceptable for someone who work long hours and come back home and launch computer to relax. Also there are relatively big letters because the player is assumed to have poor eyesight and there are no fast moving objects on the screen :)

The game is also playable to all ages at least to some degree (I have families like mothers playing with their kids and other huge age disparity cases).

Anyway, there is not much to read into that statement. It's familiy friendly, adult friendly and easy enough for a not too bright kid to play it at the basic level at least.

Is the intent to have gameplay that is historically accurate?

Also, the game play intensity is acceptable for someone who work long hours and come back home and launch computer to relax.

Do you mind elaborating? E.g. examples of games with play intensity that is not acceptable, or how you have gone out of your way to make it acceptable?

I always thought most games are acceptable for the working class. All the major titles allow the players to jump in and play whenever they have time, and allow them to play as much or as little as they want during each session.

There is one type of game that are quite unsuitable: Those that forces you to log in everyday to spend "turns/energy".

The problem with those games is that you can't be casual. You're forced to commit to logging in everyday for 10-30 minutes to spend your turns. When was the last time we manage to commit to anything (exercise, practice, housework etc) with such regularity?

Also, people who work long hours tend to need rest/sleep, time with family, or simply have no time during the weekdays after work. They might have a few hours during the weekend to play some games but then they'll feel bad losing a week of turns (usually only allowed to store 1-2 days worth of turns). After 10-30 minutes of playing, they can't continue playing anymore, so they have to find other games.

IMHO unless they allow players to store 3 weeks worth of turns (offices often go into "crunch time" where you have to work non-stop for weeks without much breaks), people with long working hours will not be able to play the game properly, or even catch up to their peers who managed to play everyday.

Is the intent to have gameplay that is historically accurate?

Not exactly. It's a game first, it has to be fun first. Still, I want to save as much realism (more in terms of the medeival mood, not the exact letter) as possible.

Do you mind elaborating?

Sorry, but I don't want this topic to go off topic :) The question is how to make more things to do in the game, how to make it fun and how to make the game finished and ready for release. I need to focus on this and the rest is a minor detail :)

I got a bit more desparate, willing to do more crazy changes if needed :)

I was thinking and maybe I diagnosed the problem wrongly. The problem with this project might be the lack/weak of player's progression. I have a tendency to make elegant and longlasting games, and I was worried what will happen after X years of playing, what will get broken then what will be boring then. The longlasting fix is making slow progression :) But then, it makes no/slow progression at the beginning and maybe too boring game at the beginning :) So I wonder, maybe I should dump the longevity and assume a player plays it for one year and all (content and mechanics) is balanced to last for one year and then it gets more or less stagnant?

For example, now you almost can't increase your rate income (daily). You have skills that let you produce more, but you can max out these quickly and they increas a small bit (up to +30%). It's nice for balancing since everyone is assured around the same income (2-6 gold coins per 1 point of stamina used, depending on player's skills and brains and dedication) but...

The problem your having is your controlling the element of gameplay to much.

War, unfortunatly is something that players love to do. The reason being is competition. Mind you not everyone wants to do it, but there is 0 competition in your game right now. You need some element that keeps everything at bay, keeps you holding onto the game, keeps you coming back for more. Right now as it seems, what you do in the game is...well nothing. There is no penalty for not doing anything and no penalty for just doing things. The progressional chain that you have reeps no rewards towards a show off system.

You could add some way to make it so you earn items, collectibles etc that give an advantage. Or hold a social aspect of voting for best town, house, farm something. What you need is a socially driven magnet on making someone better than the joneses. Or add in PVP and allow people to kill eachother off. That will form alliances, guilds. Maybe accelerate your time a little, you said you wanted it close to historically accurate right? Why not have contributions towards a war that happened, have people make blackmsiths, do missions making weapons etc. You can have alliances that attempt to make more resources for the war.

This game reminds me of the minecraft sever Kingdoms at war. You can choose a country and fight for it and declare wars. When you said about having minigames its reminds me of how when you declare wars on the server, there are seperate maps called battle fields where the players can fight. So I suggest that when a country is at war with another, there should be a seperate map where thebattle take place. Also instead of religions they should be called professions or classes, because an aristocrat doesnt have to be religious. You should also have a sense of trade and commerce for the countries, as well as alliances between them. Also each country should have a special economy, for example, Country X is an agricultural based country while country Y is a manufactoring country. While at war, the player shouldnt be allowed to enter the oposing country. Also there should be clans or political parties, such as the Republicans or Democrats who compete to rule the country. The clan with the most members gets to rule the country for a certain period of time. This political system is similar to the one of the united states. And as other people have said, there is no goal in the game. I suggest to make the game better, to add a goal. Try something like to gain enough money or members to start a clan so you can get control over the country. If this sounds to advance for your skill, make a more simple mmo like WoW or runescape. Please reply if my suggestions sounds ambiguous or to vauge. Thanks for your time.

Please dont tell me my clans idea is not the old style. The clan idea gives every player a chance to take part in polotics, and the election of a king in a game would make no sense. In clans, there would be a king, but the decisions of war should be passed to the congree. The king cannot vote in congress, but has the ability to choose if the vote in congreas is tied.