¶ NPC factions & bandits
The world isn't just players. NPC factions live in the background — bandit camps that grow over time, mercenary companies that hire out, and (in late game) monster threats that emerge from world-collapse pressure.
¶ Bandit camps
Bandits are the everyday NPC threat. Camps appear automatically on uncontrolled tiles. They:
- Tier up over time. A neglected camp becomes a fortress in a season.
- Tax caravans that pass within their range. The further away from authority, the more bandits can demand.
- Raid neighboring cities if their tier is high enough. Targets = soft cities with low security gauges.
- Recruit local population if cultural acceptance is failing in nearby cities.
- Burn out when defeated. A defeated camp can be reclaimed as a settlement site.
Bandit tiers (1-5) gate their unit roster, raid radius, and tax rate. A Tier-1 camp is a nuisance; a Tier-5 fortress is a real war.
| Faction type |
Behavior |
Threat level |
| Bandit |
Opportunistic — tax, raid, expand. Hostile by default. |
Low → High by tier. |
| Mercenary |
For hire — sells units to whoever pays. Neutral by default. |
Variable. |
| Cultic |
Faith-driven — emerges in religiously polarized regions. Convert pressure. |
Mid. |
| Monster (late game) |
Climate-collapse spawn. Hostile to all. |
High → Apocalyptic. |
| Wandering tribe |
Migrating caravan — neutral, occasional opportunity. |
Low. |
¶ Patrols and counters
The defense layer for NPC pressure is the patrol system — six patrol flavors:
- Standard Patrol — generic security.
- Caravan Escort — protects trade routes.
- Road Patrol — reduces road-network ambush risk.
- Port Defense — coastal anti-piracy.
- Border Patrol — territorial integrity.
- Anti-Bandit — direct camp-burning posture.
Each patrol has three aggression postures: defensive (engage if attacked), reactive (engage in radius), offensive (hunt actively).
Mercenary companies exist on the map and accept hire. Hiring a mercenary:
- Adds their unit roster to your army (temporarily).
- Costs upfront + ongoing retainer.
- Risks defection if a higher bidder appears.
- Mercenaries don't trigger your manpower cap.
Mercenary cultures are fluid; they're not strictly one of the 10 player cultures.
NPC factions run on a published AI architecture (npc_ai_agents.md):
- Faction state machines — each NPC type has its own decision tree.
- Priority resolution — expansion vs defense vs raid vs recruit.
- Cultural fit — bandit factions absorb local culture as they grow (an Ironpeak-region bandit camp becomes Ironpeak-flavored).
- Reputation interactions — NPC factions track their stance toward each player. High-reputation players can negotiate truces.
In the world-collapse phase, monster factions emerge:
- Plague Wraiths — emerge from disease-ridden cities.
- Storm Maelstroms — ocean-faring; storm-spawned.
- Volcanic Drakes — high-end mountain threats.
- Fanatic Hordes — Fanatic emergence at extreme polarization → mass uprising.
Monsters do not negotiate. They are the world ending.
- Bandit proxies — diplomatically you can pay bandits to raid a rival's caravans (heavily attribution-flagged; risky).
- Mercenary surge — a one-month war can be won with mercenary hire if you pay early.
- Cult containment — sometimes letting a small Cultic faction grow as a buffer beats a direct fight.
Sources: npc-fraction.md (44K), npc_ai_agents.md (34K), npc_ai_agents_implementation.md (44K, dev guide), npc_units.xlsx, rts_npc_faction_design_table.xlsx.