by
Elindor
» 22 Mar 2017, 15:45
Since Life IS Feudal as Bobik always says - what about the ability to gain serfs and guards over time?
I know, I know - NO NPCS blah blah...yes but hear me out.
NPCs (aside from server stability issues which is a real possible issue but can be possibly avoided by my plan here) are not inherently bad, it depends on WHAT THEY DO.
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SERFS
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Since Life is Feudal, we need serfs. Right now a group of 10 guys rules/labors by themselves in massive castles and villages...which just feels empty half the time.
WHERE WOULD THEY COME FROM?
My proposal would be that once you put down a monument, it starts "attracting" serfs at a slow rate. They appear through the monument UI and you can assign them to tasks - like manning the blacksmith shop or the stables, etc.
WHAT WOULD THEY DO?
Once assigned, they would appear as an NPC figure in that location as a part of that building basically...so they aren't walking around your village causing server issues...they are literally a version of the building model...and they just kinda stand there and hammer or whatever...but it adds a little movement and sound to your village. In addition, when assigned to a building like a blacksmith or something - they could maybe do mundane tasks, like if you throw a bunch of logs in the forge, they could turn it into charcoal for you....or maybe their only mechanical application is a minor bonus to productivity when you do the tasks, like you get 15 charcoal instead of 10 from something.
WHAT WOULD THEY COST?
In return for this, you'd have to keep a stock of food available (again through part of the monument UI probably) for them, and if it ran out they would stop working. This is good because it would increase the need and usefulness of food and cooking - as well as possibly urging groups to have more farmland or rewarding them for having more as they could use more serfs...which is much more realistic and gives more pros to living on flatter, more farm-ready lands.
Perhaps they would also need some form of housing....like little low long huts called "serf quarters" that would house like 5 serfs each or something. And outside each serf quarter as part of the model of the building could be a woman and a child or something just kinda standing around moving slightly...again adding a "village" feel to your establishment you are the ruling group over (this part is of course not essential)
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GUARDS
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So guards would operate similarly, but with some differences.
WHERE WOULD THEY COME FROM AND WHAT WOULD THEY COST?
To hire guards, you would go to the monument UI where the serfs appeared over time and instead of assigning one to a building you would instead turn it into a guard. Guards would also require food/housing as described in the serf section, but they would also require currency of some kind (gold/silver/copper coins or something) in the monument UI where the serfs/guards eat from. If the food or currency allocated to them runs out, the guards will stop working.
WHAT WOULD THEY DO?
Once serfs were turned into guards, they could be assigned to a tower or gatehouse or keep, and they would appear at that building.
A tower guard would be an archer or crossbowman (what kind of weapon depends on monument level) with a short sword or ax or something, and light armor. They would stand on that building and not leave it, firing arrows at intruders and fighting them in melee if they got close. That's it. Again - they would not leave their assigned tower (in an effort to reduce glitches/server issues).
Guards assigned to gatehouses would have better melee weapons and heavier armor (what again depends on monument level) and they would stand either on the inside or the outside of the gate and defend it...they would be basically immobile in that they could not leave the square (or few squares area) they were attached to.
Guards assigned to a keep would do the same thing but at the door of the keep.
* There would need to be a couple settings in the monument UI about how guards behave...like whether they attack on sight or not.
WON'T THEY BE TOO STRONG?
The effectiveness of guards (and their gear) would be determined by the monument level as mentioned, but not matter the monument level they are **NOT** intended to be a powerful force that could stop any serious attack. Higher level guards might be a deterrent to one or two attackers, and guards might help a defensive force a little....but no, they will not hold your base for you against any real attack.
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MONUMENT ADVANCEMENT
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In the case of both serfs and guards, they would give another reason to upgrade your monument as high level monuments would attract more serfs at a faster rate and when turned into guards they would be better than guards from lower level monuments. There would be a total number of serfs/guards you can have of course, determined by your monument level.
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SUMMARY
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Overall, the implementation of serfs and guards as described above would add life to the game and to the player establishments, as well as add more emphasis on things like food and farming and upgrading one's monument. These additions would make the settlements feel more alive and less like 10 guys ruling over nothing.
The implementation of these NPC's would *NOT* impede on the player run dynamics of the game in any way. As merely additions to the existing buildings, they only impact the game mechanics in small ways - in the case of serfs through a bonus to production of that building, in the case of guards through a little passive defense for your settlement (but again, not very strong so easily overcome on their own).
Also, as only additions to the existing buildings and not free roaming NPCs, they should be "somewhat feasible" from a coding/network stability standpoint. Free roaming guards and serfs in your village would create ALL KINDS of problems for the servers and glitches etc...but with them fixed to their assigned location (building, tower, etc) they should be feasible to implement.
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Would love to know thoughts on this, especially if they are not "NO NPCS DUR!". Devs are already going back on the no npc thing with where the wildmen and swamp women thing is headed....and the NPCS I am proposing would add "life" to the game without diminishing the player run environment.
Last edited by
Elindor on 22 Mar 2017, 17:09, edited 4 times in total.