Poll More unique officers

[Grey Roger]

"Backstabber" would probably mean that, whether intentionally or by accident as he gets carried away with hitting everything in range, he may hit someone on his own side. This would probably involve either removing the protection currently in place by which you can't harm anyone in your own team, or put him into his own AI group. The former will probably play merry havoc with combat balance, while the latter will probably play merry havoc with AI relations. Either way, expect this character to have a life span of about 10 seconds if the trait activates and he does hit one of your other officers. (Or, if you can see his traits at the time of hiring, no sane captain will ever hire this character. )

 

[Pieter Boelen]

"Backstabber" would probably mean that, whether intentionally or by accident as he gets carried away with hitting everything in range, he may hit someone on his own side. This would probably involve either removing the protection currently in place by which you can't harm anyone in your own team, or put him into his own AI group. The former will probably play merry havoc with combat balance, while the latter will probably play merry havoc with AI relations. Either way, expect this character to have a life span of about 10 seconds if the trait activates and he does hit one of your other officers. (Or, if you can see his traits at the time of hiring, no sane captain will ever hire this character. )

That does sound quite interesting.
Maybe just have him hitting his own people reduce the HP of the person who was hit, but don't change any relations?
Then it's only a small disadvantage, rather than completely messing things up.

 

[imado552]

I like the idea of removing the protection of players officers in real life if you hit him by accident or ..... he will loss hp
So maybe backstabber will result in in reduction of hp of the friendly officer hit or soldiers in boarding and maybe relation between them
For example if you hit an officer he will lose some hp and his trust of you will have maybe -2...-10 you choose cuz he will start thinking WTH IS CAPTAIN DOING!! You dont even know how to fight so how about protecting your man
And maybe if we can add the option to the future of giving the officer to law or protecting him from guards in here so if maybe his hp is low you step in front of him protecting him while he is doing bandages this will gain you a trust and loyalty of your man knowing their captain is ready to die for them which make them do the same when you are surrounded they all run to protect you without carrying about their life maybe a perk or trait with a name of loyal or more then loyal which have good sides like you know he won't betray you and bad side you know he is crazy enough to die protecting u
That's just an idea it's up to you @Levis wow my head is just pouring me ideas lol
And by the way is there anyway to increase the number of troops in boarding I have 10 officers so why in the hell would only 3 fight what about the other 7 they just sit watching I would love to see that I would be happy to even test it for you
Wooh that's long XD

 

[Grey Roger]

It is possible to have more than 3 companion officers, though I'm not sure if it works properly.

Also, the number of boarders on each side is dependent on the relative strengths of the crew. If you're on the larger ship then you'll have more crew on your side; if you're on the smaller ship then the enemy will have more crew.

Beware of making the deck too crowded. The NPC's need to be able to move around to fight each other, and so do you! Even the limited number already in use can get a bit crowded on the smaller decks.

 

[Levis]

There is a max of 20 characters in a location I believe. The game probably divides it up between you and the enemy. but I still want to look into this more.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The maximum number of crew on a boarding deck depends on the actual model so that small decks get less crew for the reasons @Grey Roger mentioned.
The amount of player-vs-enemy crew depends on the relative crew sizes between both ships.

 

[Tingyun]

I understand now Levis. That is a very good idea. I look forward to trying this out (both playing and adding traits), it looks like a very fun system you are implementing indeed! Thanks for all this amazing stuff you are doing to improve the game!

 

[Levis]

Now please let those idease for perks comming .

 

[Tingyun]

Levis, haha, I will. So perks purchasable by Everyone that would have certain kinds of character traits as prereqs, and skill boosts should be avoided...Would something like this work? I used some skill gain rate effects, not sure if thst is ok.

1) "Pickpocket"

This officer has begun to always "find" a few lost purses...

Randomly add a few hundred gold to inventory, sneak skill gets a 1.25 modifier increasing skill gain, reputation for the officer goes down every month

Purchasabke by character traits ondicating deviousness


2) "Self Preservation"

This fighter has firmly grasped the "better part of valor."

Some boost to block but minus to piercing, or boost to HP and minus to damage

Purchasable by character traits indicating intelligent, cautious approaches to fighting

3) "Content"

After learning much and seeing many new things traveling, this officer has decided that, well, he'd rather sit in his cabin and relax. Happilly, he doesn't mind being paid less to achieve what he calls "work-life balance."

Salary set to 50%, skill gain rate cut in half

Purchasable by people with character teaits indicating moderation, contentment, mild personalities

 

[Levis]

those sound nice

 

[Tingyun]

I don't want to give too many, so I'll stop for now and then if you say "3 more" I'll post 3 more. Or whatever number, just let me know.

Should we ask @imado552 to create images for those 3, and the "backstabber" perk that you are creating?

 

[Levis]

I would like to start with about 6 different perks. So I need 6 ideas for perks for different kind of characters etc.
So we need a broad spectrum of perks.
You can sugest some more so we can then pick the 6 best and make those.
If the system works and people are happy with it we can make some more.

 

[Tingyun]

I will think of some more then

 

[Tingyun]

Hi @Levis

As you requested, I am returning to offer some more perk ideas for you to consider.

4) "Ignores Pain"

This officer has cultivated the ability to keep fighting despite sustaining severe injury, long after others would have given up. However, by ignoring injuries, this officer risks making them worse and harder to heal.

-50% healing item effect, max hp increased +1 per level

Purchasable by warrior type personalities, or those of a stoic persuasion

5) "Heightened Sensitivity"

Experimenting with alchemy, this officer has purposefully enhanced his sensitivity to healing balms and elixers. However, there is a price to his health, and poison could prove fatal to him.

Effect from healing items +50%, -20 max hp, +200% to any poison damage received (officers probably all carry antitodes to cure themselves of poison instantly anyway, the hp is the real loss)

6) "Storyteller"

This officer has taken to telling stories of your exploits in every tavern he visits. You will be well known as long as he is in your employ, but do you truly want to be so recognizable?

Flat fame boost for player

7) "Singer"

This officer has learned many a lively song, and some tragic and comedic ballads as well. Whether leading the men in song or entertaining them over a meal, every crewman is delighted to have him aboard.

Small morale boost.

 

[imado552]

I like those!!!

 

[Levis]

Thanks for some of the idea's.
I picked some of your ideas and merged some together and tried to come up with a list of 6 perks which could influence different playstyles and have pro and con's.
Do mind that in most cases the officer will have this perk selected already. It will probably be one of the first perks they pick automaticly during generation.
Also do mind it's possible once we are going to assign officers to captains theire officers might have some of these perks too. And it also possible random characters might have one of these perks.
Here are some of my ideas:

Pickpocketer
Every day the party can get a slight wealth increase. But the captain can also get a small reputation penalty.


Wild Fighter
This character will have higher sword damage but will have less chance in blocking blows.


Cautious Fighter
This character will have a higher chance in blocking but will produce less damage with his sword


Branded as Pirate
If this character is in your shoreparty pirates will like you more (+10) but there is a chance guards might arrest you if they recognise him.


Famous Trader
If this character is an officer the party will get a discount (10%) when buying a merchant licence beceause of his reputation. But smugglers will like you less if he is in your service.


Freebooter
If the captain has a LoM or is a navy character this officer wont contribute any of his skills. But because of the military dicipline he will fight harder and have more damage with his sword and pistol. When the captain is a pirate this character will contribute all his skills.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Do mind that in most cases the officer will have this perk selected already.

These perks are supposed to be UNcommon, right?

Additional note: This is obviously a potentially fun feature to have, but it is very clearly a NEW feature and not actually a "need to have".
As such, I would consider it quite a lot priority. Possibly even something that maybe we should consider Build 15 material.

Assuming we can really focus on fixing and finishing for the Build 14 Beta 4.1 public release, maybe perhaps we could actually consider that to be the Build 14 Final.
If so, that would mean Build 15 could be started on properly relatively soon.
But in the meantime, players who want just something stable and fun would have a good version to stick with for the time being.

 

[Levis]

These perks are supposed to be UNcommon, right?

Additional note: This is obviously a potentially fun feature to have, but it is very clearly a NEW feature and not actually a "need to have".
As such, I would consider it quite a lot priority. Possibly even something that maybe we should consider Build 15 material.

Assuming we can really focus on fixing and finishing for the Build 14 Beta 4.1 public release, maybe perhaps we could actually consider that to be the Build 14 Final.
If so, that would mean Build 15 could be started on properly relatively soon.
But in the meantime, players who want just something stable and fun would have a good version to stick with for the time being.

They would be uncommon indeed.
This will be a fun sideproject for me to work on if I'm stuck om something else probably. But chances are very high it will actually be implemented in build 15.

 

[Tingyun]

Levis, I love the first four ideas and the whole system. But I am not sure about the last two.

Famouse trader is a guy you will look for to get the discount if you don't have the license already, and otherwise not care about. Basically, he is 100,000 gold in the player's pocket.

Freebooter is the real problem--he becomes the officer of choice for shore party boarding actions. You only need one bosun to get you the skills for bosrding, but you need 3 boarding fighters, and that perk incentivizes the player to always search out 3 freebooters if possible, as the trait is strictly a bonus for that purpose. Basically, in a world where melee differences are tight and HP is deterministic based on profession, it makes the player have a clear superior combat choice.

 

[Levis]

Levis, I love the first four ideas and the whole system. But I am not sure about the last two.

Famouse trader is a guy you will look for to get the discount if you don't have the license already, and otherwise not care about. Basically, he is 100,000 gold in the player's pocket.

Freebooter is the real problem--he becomes the officer of choice for shore party boarding actions. You only need one bosun to get you the skills for bosrding, but you need 3 boarding fighters, and that perk incentivizes the player to always search out 3 freebooters if possible, as the trait is strictly a bonus for that purpose. Basically, in a world where melee differences are tight and HP is deterministic based on profession, it makes the player have a clear superior combat choice.

I'm still thinking about something more interesting for the trader to give him some more value, but you see where I'm going with it?

Remeber these perks will be rare already, and finding a Freebooter which will have high melee skills already will be quite a job. If you are a pirate captain and go looking for 3 of those specific officers I personally wont mind. I think it will be quite a adventure already. As far as I know we remove the officer farming from the game a bit so you can only encounter 1 of 2 different officer per day in the tavern so you would have to either spend A LOT of time in the tavern finding these specific officers or you must ask for them everywhere you go and hope to find them. Personally I don't think thats a problem, I think thats a nice goal for a captain.