COMMUNITY - FORUMS - GENERAL DISCUSSION
Second+ Surname?

My intent is to have my Mayor in the South and my adventurer Gentry ~100km to the North.

Is dual boxing the only method we will have to ensure we can play as an adventurer Gentry soul at Launch, in addition to our Mayor+ soul? Or will we be able to purchase a second+ surname and thereby spark a second+ soul into Expo?

The other option I was thinking of would be to travel the ~100km, get married and lock my spouse, and spend ep world building up there like a Gentry would, and then return to my settlement in the South without my spouse. Then spark my second soul into my Northern spouse come launch. I'd certainly need a Southern spouse as well, so I'd get married as soon as I returned. I'd hopefully return within 28 real days so that my settlement isn't stolen from me during expo. Is polygamy allowed or would I need to fake my identity up North? Would faking my identity up North allow me to create a free second surname due to the fake identity signing the marriage contract?

Summary of my questions to fulfill my intent:

  1. Dual boxing?
  2. Buying second+ custom surname?
  3. Polygamy?
  4. Second+ custom surname by signing marriage contract with a fake identity?

Incidental important question:

  1. Is it possible to lose my settlement if I travel ~200km round trip during expo?

1/10/2020 1:18:49 AM #1
  1. Dual boxing is frowned on by SBS/Caspian and they will likely not do anything to support it.(Search Discord from: Caspian +dual or two boxing

  2. One custom surname per account.

  3. Nothing concrete at this time

  4. Any chc on your account may be able to assume their spouses surname during marriage. Again those mechanics aren't set in stone.

Incidental: 1. Once full PVP is opened during Expo you can loose anything and everything you own. As far as abandonment we don't know if that will be active during Expo. Or whether you as the title holder have to be present or if you can assign those duties to a vassal to stop the adverse possession mechanics from kicking in.


Divide et Impera

1/10/2020 1:18:53 AM #2

I need to do some digging but I remember them addressing this in a roundabout way by talking about accounts and what happens during expo as a part of these accounts when talking about the Legendary Taverns. It should be in that QnA if anyone knows which one it is in.

Essentially its the account that gets Expo status and so any sparks you put in would have individual inventories that are sub-divided by your original inventory or you just pull stuff from your inventory when speaking with the vendor like they do in LiF.


1/10/2020 1:47:09 AM #3

I honestly do not see anything wrong with dual or triple boxing if you are actually playing the game legitly without boxing software.

If someone wants to spend the money to buy $75 worth of sparks for 3 active characters on 2 or three accounts I say let them do it as 6 characters will likely be OPCs doing the minimum.

And considering there are actual stamina limitations to what a player can do or that you might only really be able to play a character for like 8 hours or 3 a day if you are up for 24 hours to drain their stamina and get some skill levels in the process per day to do it efficiently without over extending your stamina for days to come it really is not that bad in the end.

I know of a few people who bought multiple mayor or count packs who intended to dual or triple box before they made their stance known. Those people intended to have a dedicated gentry characted on each account, some profession, and an adventurer on each account.

The main thing is that this game already offers scripting for the opc system which does a great deal of automation. The other thing about CoE is it is not your usual MMO in which you can just afk through just about everything and requires a lot of active participation which people who intend to dual box will find much more difficult but not impossible to do.

I say if people want to spend money on souls and sparks vs having a single serve NPC I have no problem with people spending more money on the game.


If you have items or assets you no longer have use for feel free to send them my way.

1/10/2020 2:09:53 AM #4

Actually polygamy is concrete at this time, and that is that you can have multiple spouses. It's a contract after all.

And you can adventure, but there are things that require you to be in your settlement for your "table" for you to do "management" things of at the "mayoral" level. Like your mayoral duties and what not. If you don't and you're not present, your citizens will question who the leader is and it's possible they may replace.


1/10/2020 2:54:01 AM #5

I kinda hope that a spouse can't assume a fake identity's surname when signing a marriage contract... otherwise, people will have surnames that weren't approved by SBS. We'll see McTownFace, McDisneyLand, McCaspian, etc...

Perhaps some contracts (marriage) require proof of surname coat of arms. It'd hinder fake surnames while still allowing for the creation of new surnames. Or game mechanic magic could block fake identity marriage contracts.. but then all one would need to do to ensure someone is who they say they are is to have them draft a marriage contract with their name on it.

edit: added speculation about how a marriage contract could prevent fake identity's creating new custom surnames and an issue that could be caused by forcing only real identities on marriage contracts


1/10/2020 3:17:41 AM #6

Once the game launches there will likely only be Elyrian packages. You will have to earn or marry into a family and assume their surname. I really doubt there will be any custom surnames after Expo.


Divide et Impera

1/10/2020 5:21:24 AM #7

Posted By Avastar at 6:54 PM - Thu Jan 09 2020

I kinda hope that a spouse can't assume a fake identity's surname when signing a marriage contract... otherwise, people will have surnames that weren't approved by SBS. We'll see McTownFace, McDisneyLand, McCaspian, etc...

Perhaps some contracts (marriage) require proof of surname coat of arms. It'd hinder fake surnames while still allowing for the creation of new surnames. Or game mechanic magic could block fake identity marriage contracts.. but then all one would need to do to ensure someone is who they say they are is to have them draft a marriage contract with their name on it.

edit: added speculation about how a marriage contract could prevent fake identity's creating new custom surnames and an issue that could be caused by forcing only real identities on marriage contracts

This is old, but:

If I can make my own fake identity, and then get married to someone who only knows that identity, will that name then become a family name that people can join? Ergo bypassing the fixed surnames that will be there at launch or does marrying mean I have to confess my true identity?
4 APR 16 V-BW

Marrying does not mean you have to confess your true identity. If I understand the question, is if you have a fake identity, you created an identity that exists in the world but it’s not your surname, and you’ve been using that fake identity and you marry somebody under that identity... And so you negotiated as part of the contract, ‘hey I’m going to use this identity’. You wouldn’t have to confess, but it would put them kind of at risk as well because now everybody in that family is assuming a fake identity effectively. We have to visit that system and see whether we want everybody to be punished if they’re caught or just you and whether that surname remains with them.. I can see ways of having that abused. It’s one of those things we’re going to have to revisit at some point, but it’s not something we have to figure out just yet.


1/10/2020 6:36:09 AM #8

Perhaps surnames are locked to current surnames. A fake identity could allow for any given name, but would only allow real surnames. That would add an interesting element to the game. A dynasty with the same surname.. but doesn't belong to the real dynasty. it would become obvious that it was a fake surname (to the spouse) when the dynasty benefits given after marriage doesn't include the family chat with the real dynasty.

Are family chat benefits tied to the surname? or do both dynasties' benefits merge (everyone gets to have family chat) when two different surnames get married?


1/10/2020 12:03:00 PM #9

I am not 100% sure to understand all the points of your question, but one thing is for sure, in order to clarify things discussion should be about characters.

An account is intended to be able to allow control of up to 3 characters (number have moved in the past and can totally change again).

To control a character an account must have an available soul and a spark of life.

An account can only allow one active character at a time, if it has more than one character controlled, the others are in OPC mode while the active one is played with.

Exposition is an exception, so far we will only be allowed one character per account during exposition {the one with our surname and titles} (this may or may not change)

So, if we apply all that to the situation you describe :

Comes expo your first character will be your mayor+ one with the surname reserved for your account.

If you want to play a second character during exposition you will need a second bloodline+ account, that character will then have the surname reserved for that second account.

If you want to play a second character after launch (once expo is finished) you can do that either by:

buying an other Elyrian+ account. if that second account has acces to a surname your character will have that surname, if not your character will have the surname of the family it spawn in ( the surname of the NPC you use your soul and spark on).

or by using an other soul and spark from your mayor+ account on an NPC, hence controlling a second character from that account. That character will only be able to get the surname of the family it spawn into ( so if you want both your characters to share the same surname, the second one must spawn into the family of the first one).

What are the main differences between two characters on the same account and two characters from two different accounts?

From the same account:

  • both characters can not be active at the same time (the non active one are in OPC mode)
  • both characters can access the same account inventory ( objects like pets, mounts and such bought from the website shop and Story Points) {As you can only have one character in expo EP wont be shared between characters because at the end of expo when you can have a second character EP wont exist anymore}

From two different accounts:

  • both characters can be active at the same time if you manage to find a legit way to have both accounts running the game at the same time.
  • both characters will have distinct not shareable account inventories

Hope that gave some answers.


1/25/2020 12:06:52 PM #10

Thank you for the comprehensive response! I'm hoping for the ability to purchase a second surname so that I'll be able to world build in my settlement for my settlement sim mayor character and to world build in a far away settlement as my adventurer gentry character.

Otherwise, I'm planning on temporarily abandoning my settlement as soon as possible at the beginning of expo and traveling 100km to the north to world build. I'll use ep to poof in tavern resources for myself as I go. I know I'll make it. Then I'll marry either a land owner up there or the first person i can and then ancestralize land next to a settlement and have a child. Then I'll leave a hefty sum of something up there for them to live off of because my character will then abandon them (until I spark into the child after expo) and travel 100km back to my settlement.

Obviously, that is a lot of time, effort, and work which would be much better spent focusing on world building both areas simultaneously, thus I request being able to purchase a second surname which would allow me to spark a second character from the same account during expo.