I’ve already talked a little about estate improvements in Lords of Infinity here, how the player has the option to pay for relatively modest projects like new roads or a small expansion to the Dragoon Officer’s ancestral home.

However, for those Dragoon Officers with the time, will, and (perhaps most importantly of all), the money, there is also a second set of potential construction projects, ones which have the potential to change estate gameplay entirely. This is what I’ve been working on over the past two months.

The so-called “major projects” live up to their name, requiring enormous amounts of money and resources, and multiple six-month “management rounds” of construction. There are seven such projects in total, three available to any version of the Dragoon Officer, and one unique to each of the four regions the Dragoon Officer might originate from. That being said, the player will only be able to build one per playthrough – and many players will not even be able to scrape together the resources to manage that.

However, simply having the money and the will to complete one of these projects isn’t always enough. The player will have to guide the Dragoon Officer’s major project through all the stages of development, and make wise choices regarding their major project’s construction and use. If the player chooses well, a completed major project could single-handedly turn a money-losing estate into a vastly profitable one, or greatly increase the estate’s prosperity and the reputation of its owner. If the player chooses poorly, the major project might prove a source of immense difficulty. If such a project is poorly managed, then it may significantly harm the Dragoon Officer’s reputation and do serious damage to the good name of his ancestral lands. It might even prove to be a complete failure, and turn into a permanent millstone around the Dragoon Officer’s neck, sapping his funds, and damaging his reputation permanently.

Needless to say, there’s a lot involved in each project. Each one has its own separate plot, some with vastly divergent outcomes. They’ve been a lot of work to implement, but I suspect that once they’re in, they’ll add a new reason to pay attention to the estate through Lords of Infinity‘s story.

In the meantime, September’s installments of A Soldier’s Guide to the Infinite Sea, An Adventurer’s Guide to the Fledgling Realms and A Creator’s Guide to Writing and Worldbuilding are now up.