Groups

Groups are characters which have banded together under a leader. The groups menu can be accessed anywhere at any time, and groups have no cap on the number of members. There are different group types with their own purposes, but generally groups are for characters who are either on their own without town allegiance, or are rebelling against a town. It's also useful for parents to keep their children organized, as all adult members of a group can drag other members. Children are also allowed to create their own groups but will not be able to drag anyone as per their limitations.

Creation

To create a group you select the menu and choose your group type. Once your group is created, from the same menu you can start adding people to your group. The list of people to select from is based on who is present in the same area with you at the time. Adding people to a group requires their consent, and they will only be added once they accept your request. You can also select an heir from this menu once you have some members in your group to choose from. This heir will be able to ensure the group remains intact even if the leader becomes incapable, dies, or otherwise leaves the group. If both the leader and heir become incapable, die, or leave the group without selecting another heir, then the group will be disbanded automatically as there is no one to lead it.

Limitations

Groups were created to be a counterpart to guards and to be a convenient way to travel, but they have their own set of restrictions. You can only be in one group at a time (joining another group when you are already in one will just set the newest group as your current one). You cannot be a guard and in a group at the same time, and a group's type cannot be changed after creation. If you want to change the type of group you are leading, you will have to disband the current one first and then ask all the old members to join the new one (this is on purpose to avoid abuse). Only militant group types will automatically defend their members from attacks initiated by others, but unlike guards this will not initiate an ongoing attack over time. Those can only be initiated by the leader of a militant group. You cannot add characters to your group if they are on your own account.

Joining a group essentially allows the group leader to make decisions for you regarding where to go and potentially when to engage in combat. As such, joining a group always involves a certain amount of trust. While in a group, certain actions such as initiating travel or turning around on a road will automatically cause you to leave the group if you are not the group leader. These actions will show a warning beforehand to let you know that completing the action will cause you to leave the group.

Travel Group

A travel group is created only for the purpose of being able to travel together without all players having to be online at the same time to coordinate movement. A travel group will follow its leader down roads to different map tiles. The speed of the entire group will be determined by the slowest member of the group. As such, the leader should ensure everyone is mounted or in their vehicles before leaving the tile if they want to maximize the speed of their group, as well as making sure all mounts or vehicles that are to be taken along have people on/in them - otherwise they will be left behind. The leader can move anyone onto a mountable animal they own themselves if they do not have an attached vehicle on them, or into any vehicle with available space. If the leader leaves a tile when not all the group's members are outside, the members left behind will leave the group automatically. Travel groups do not automatically defend their members as a group.

Example: If three people in a travel group are following a leader who has 3 mounts with vehicles attached, if they each get in a vehicle they will all travel in their respective vehicles, following the leader when they direct the travel. The leader must direct the travel in order for this to occur.

Militant Group

A militant group is equivalent to a settlement's guards, and can be used in a similar way. Characters in militant groups follow all the same rules and limitations for combat as they otherwise would: Attacks are still limited to one per hour per target. Leaders of these groups can order their inactive (offline for more than 15 minutes) members to attack a specific person, continually until incapable (active members will have to manually select attacks). When a group member is attacked the entire group will defend their member by returning the blows to the attacker, within their limit, and only if they are inactive. Militant groups will also automatically travel with their leader just like a travel group, however an important distinction is that militant group members cannot work on projects for the duration of their membership. Militant group members who are hibernating will not contribute to an automated attack.