Questing poses and interesting element to a game such as this. I've found in my first day of playing that the risk/reward and difficulty of quests ranges from 'ridiculously easy' to 'you better not try this one for 200 seasons because that Bone Ogre near the treasure doesn't look too friendly'. I like how quests do have an element of randomness, as trying the same actions in different games for the same quest may yield different results (even more would be great!).

Anyhow, the thing I do not like about quests is that they when you discover a quest, they are all generated, one-off errands that disappear -. Kill this, bring me that, here's your reward, bye bye. I think a way to integrate the idea of 'questing' as a more 'equal' strategy to commerce/conquest/tech/magic/diplomacy would be to have the various inns, huts, camps, shrines etc actually remain in the game, and generate quests over time. The quest will be generated, if the source is within your territory a message can be sent to the player who can send a champion over to investigate, accept or refuse, and then complete the quest. Certain resources can produce more complicated and dangerous quests than others, or the quests can simply become more dangerous and rewarding over time, which will yield the player more experience and treasure, as well, and push him further into the game.

Another thought of mine is that quests can fit more seamlessly into the game mechanics as opposed to always being generated events. I do like the generated events, but I can see them getting stale over time. As of now when you accept a quest, a location is spawned to move the event forward, and then both the question location and the quest source go away, win or lose. I think an interesting element will be to have quests such as these:

-Kill 10 Bandits/Monsters/Wildings in x seasons

-Raze an enemy city in x seasons

-Declare Peace/Ally with opponent x in x seasons

-Get a champion/sovereign to Intelligence 20, or become a Fire Mage.

-Generate or donate x gold, or x Mana in x seasons

This way, the player can weigh the risks of completing the quests and can attempt to complete them in several different ways. Should I forgo building a large army to generate X gold for the reward, or should I go big on taxing and gold producing city improvements, or should I just go full conquest and hope I find enough items to sell for that much gold? The same consequences and strategies can applied to endless quests, and the potential for fluff and lore behind them is pretty great as well. Maybe you find a Death Shrine and the spirit within has an endless bloodlust, and all his quests are very war-centric, or the opposite for a Life Shrine. Maybe you find a wounded Dragon and after x number of quests completing his revenge and then healing him you have the option of allying with it.

What do you guys think? BTW - These thoughts are inspired by Warlords Battlecry III. A pretty simple RTS from back in the day that threw this element into the game.