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I made one of these on .com, but it got deleted, so I'm trying to remember it as best as I can (it got deleted.)
First off, CA in the past has taken the wrong view of what a MP campaign should be imo, which is why they have had trouble. They shoul aim for a massive MP campaign with no end, where the goal of a player is to just become more powerful.
In a traditional SP campaign, every player gets a faction. If this was translated into MP campaign, there would only be 20 some players on the map. With such a small amount, the goal would be "winning". Campaigns would become long and exclussive.
Every player should not get their own faction. In the very beginning, (the starting year is 1085 I think.) every player starts vassaled to a king, and they have a small army. However, vassaled is a very loose term, because they do not not necassarily have to obey their king, they can switch sides, ignore the king, or even go against him. However, most of these actions will lead to a king declaring them an enemy of the state, and sending the other vassaled lords against him.
The main focus will be the integration of tactics (battle map) and strategy (campaign map.) CA should keep the 3d map, but make it ultra detailed when zoomed in, so players know exactly what the battle map will look like. That way two players, before they get into battle mode, can try and get to the "higher ground" first, while not doing moves such as letting themselves get outnumbered, or cut off from an escape route.
Whenever two players "hit each other" a battle does not immediatly begin. Instead, there is a minimum of 30 minutes of "preperation time" where both are immobile, but have not begun the battle, where any third party can join. After that, the battle will begin as soon as both players are on and willing. Note that during the battle, third parties can still join.
To account for the fact people are offline when others are on, there is a day long period in which the battle cannot begin unless both parties are on. After that, either side can "force battle" even if the other is offline, and an ally of the offline person will instead fight for them. If after two days neitehr party has gotten online/forced battle, it will end up autoresolved. Any time before abattle begins, in the "waiting period" a third party can join.
All parties will be represented on the battle map at the position/terrain they entered from teh strategy map.
To try and entice enemies to join battle, a player with his army on enemy terrain can pillage the countryside, giving him a immediate lump sum of money, but lowering the tax revenue of the region.
Also, if a player wins a battle, he will gain a slight amount of money, but more importantly, his troops hsould be better equipped (either wep upgrades, or advance to the next most powerful unit of that type) to represent them taking weapons/armor off the dead (maybe even horses, not sure on this one.)
Land
A Lord (player) can gain land in several ways. First off, the king may choose to grant friendly land to a lord for service. Or, alternatively, if a lord advances into enemy land, he may instead of pillaging, build a defensive structure to ensure his control over it, granting it to him (as long as he can defend it.) Either way, once a lord controls land, the most important aspect is he can tax it. However, a lord can also build infrastructure, which can A) raise the tax revenue of the land, B) higher defensive structures will allow him to tax larger regions, C) military structures will *cheapen* the recruiting of units, D) specialized structures will *allow* training of specialists (merchants, assassins, etc.)
Recruitment
A lord does not need land to recruit troops. Basically, all recruited troops will represent mercanaries. However, recruiting in friendly land will be cheaper than in enemy land, and in one own's land will be even cheaper. Having appropriate structures (stable for cav, blacksmith for swordsmen) will further cheapen the recruitment of that type of unit. Note, however, a lord can recruit any unit found in the region, no matter where he is, or who it belongs to, provided he has money.
The second option is conscription. A lord can only conscript on his own land. Conscription provides levy quality troops, but lots of them. However, conscription lowers the tax revenue of a region.
Vassalage
A vassled lord pays a certian amount of his yearly revenue (if it be gained from land, plundering, battles, etc.) to his king. In exchange, he is "protected" by the king, that is, basically the lord is allianced to the king, if anyone attacks him they attack the king (and all other vassled nobles.) The lord can choose to break vassalage at any time, but this puts him in a very weak position, he will be all alone. If he refuses to obey the king, or outright attacks the king, or switches sides, this will happen. The lord will remain all alone, until he A) Vassles under a differint king, this is switching sides, B) if he proves his worth and attones, the former king may let him revassle, C) If a lord has enough land on his own, he can make his own kingdom, and accept his own vassles.
How it will be run
This may be hard to run, but it will be amazingly easy. All CA needs to do is make a large 3d map of europe, and place armies on it. They can add in a few "laws" such as how much land a lord needs to declare himself a new king, conscription, recruitment, etc. Then, they need to establish a few kingdoms, which can start under the control of CA devs, for people to start vassled under.
A day (real world) will represent a year in game. However, it will not be turn based. EVery player gives a queue of orders for his troops/land, and they will slowly be done...IE units gradually move across the campaign map instead of one big step, buildings gradually get built, and taxes gradually come in. In effect, every 10 seconds could become a "mini-turn." and large number of minitursn add up to accomplish something.
On the campaign map, certian units will mov e faster "every mini turn" than others. The more cav in an army, the faster it moves. The more seige weapons, the slower it moves (Oh, and I believe that only ballista/cannons should be usable on battle map, not any type of catapult/trebuchet.) Smaller armies shuold move faster than larger, and armies on friendly territory faster than those on enemy territory.
There will be expenses for this, but this would definatly make a large customer base, the whole MP community, the majority of Sp community, and pretty much every PC gaming magazine begs for this, I'm guessing that CA will double their sales with such a small move.
Anyways, I'll add more later, especially as questions come up.
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