18 réponses à ce sujet

[Lugaid of the Red Stripes]

I've finally finished enough of the rebuilt "The Last of the Dana'an" to give players something worth messing around with.  This release doesn't cover much of the plot, just Act I, but it's enough to demo some of the new systems I developed for the remake. 

 

The new Tactical AI has already been previewed with "Danaan Tactics", but I've also rebuilt the old trading scripts from "The Danaan Unvanquished" to add a lot of economic depth to the game.  The ambient animation system has also been improved with inspiration from Tchos' work on shouts.

 

With the shouts, NPCs interact more with one another, adding just a bit of controlled chaos to crowds.  NPCs can also respond to player shouts - chatting "perform" draws a crowd to watch the PC dance or play an equipped musical instrument, and maybe throw a few coins the player's way if they're any good.

 

The economic side of the game, though, is a lot different.  I've refined the old barter scripts to make them simple and easy to use, while still allowing the player to haggle over prices, or charm or intimidate their way to a better deal.  The trading scripts allow different merchants to give different prices for specific goods, allowing the player to exploit those differences to turn a profit.  Price also can now fluctuate according to the plot. More than that, though, credit, debt, and gift-giving are now important parts of how the player's economy works.  It's not just about gathering up loot and buying equipment anymore, it's more about using goods and wealth to form relationships, or buy your way out of a tight spot.  For example, one merchant extends you credit to buy your gear early in the game, but then periodically demands payment.  Making a payment gets you more credit, more gear, but also the risk of getting thrown in jail if you can't make the payments later on.  When money gets tights, you have to chose between trying to evade your debts or doing some dubious deeds to raise the gold.

 

The module's been two years in development, and it may be two more years before it's done, but I'm hoping that in the meantime builders can look at what I've done so far and maybe pick up a script or area for their own module, or that players can provide some useful guidance before I meander too far off in my little world-building.

 

Finally, thanks to all the players whose encouragement has kept me going, especially GCCoyote, MReider, Arkalezth, and all the others.

 

here's the link, posted to Nexus.

[rjshae]

Congratulations on the release!

[kevL]

aye, Bookmarked !

[GCoyote]

I've got some free time coming in about two weeks.  Looks like it's just been filled.  

[Lugaid of the Red Stripes]

Speaking of the dog, I've been trying to figure out some custom behavior for her.  The animal companions in my experience always just ended up as disposable meat shields in NWN/2, especially the ranger ones since they're usually a few levels behind the party.  As it is, the other squad members in the module are set to be immortal, and they just run away and disappear when their HP get too low, and then reappear after the player has rested.  The dog will probably do the same, but I want her to be more interesting during combat.

 

Hunting behavior would be the first think to look at.  Animals in the module run away when they see the player, and then hide when they reach cover.  A good dog might be able to catch the animals on the run, or have enough spot/listen to ferret them out of hiding.  If I can program it, the dog might be able to corral the prey towards the player, chasing them back into bowshot.

 

But what about fighting goblins and humans?  She could hide near the PC and then sneak attack anyone who gets too close, or try to chase away skirmishers, or just nip at the heels of wounded routers.  Anybody have any ideas?  What do people actually use the animal companions for, anyway? 

[rjshae]

The dog could really use some more animations, alas.

[Tchos]

What do people actually use the animal companions for, anyway? 

 

In this game?  Just as a disposable meat shield, like you said.  In P&P I've never actually had an animal companion.  In Baldur's Gate, you could talk to your familiars, which was entertaining, but I don't think there were any animal companions there.  Rangers or druids should be able to converse with their companions.

[GCoyote]

Selkie Dawg

 

Initially I tried using the dog as a standard companion.  Turns out it can be equipped with things like the amulet of natural armor to up its combat value.  However since selkie can't level up, it loses its combat value pretty fast as the game progresses.  Once my regular animal companion surpasses the dog's HP/BAB the dog isn't worth having in combat.

 

Last play through, I used it primarily as a pack animal to aid my smuggling operation.  If you don't mind being a little gamey, you can load the dog up with contraband and walk right through the gendarme's patrols.  If that's not your style you can smuggle the goods out your self and cache them outside of town.  Then use the dog to smuggle transport the stockpile to the final destination.  [I used to be in logistics so this just seemed logical to me.]  In this mode I set its behavior to 'back away' during combat for reasons noted above.

 

Since I always use a dex based ranger build, managing my load is a constant task after about the half-way point.  The dog helped a lot with that.  Extra gear like weapons I don't need but can't sell also go on the dog until I acquirer a companion that can use them.  Extra food, trap kits, and the like also go on the dog.  In this role, you could replace it with a rented donkey and it would work just as well.

 

I also used it to hunt rabbits.  No sense wasting arrows.  Just say, "attack nearest" and let the dog do the work.  Go milk the cows and pick up the rabbit meat.  

 

Use the party editor to add and remove the dog when the mission does not require him.  ["Got out and play boy.  I'll whistle if I need ya."]

 

Animal Companions

 

For standard ranger companion I normally take the wolf [knockdown], panther [multi-attack] or bear [strength bonus/HP].  With a little buffing, they can be very useful.  I also found an override, "Rebalanced Animal Companions by Jake Zahn" that make the NWN2 version of the animal companion behave more like the PnP rules.  More variety of skills/feats and corrects an error in the HP progression.   The panther gets more points put into Hide/Move Silently than other companions making it a bit more useful for a few more levels.

 

In LotD, the animal can be used to hunt game, as above.  It can also block choke points, interfering with enemies that don't have a high tumble skill and giving you more time to stick them full of arrows.  There are some fights on narrow trails where this is especially true.  

 

Again, if you don't mind being a little gamey, you can un-summon the animal if its HP get too low and re-summon it in 20 seconds.  Otherwise it will probably get killed at least half the time and you'll have to rest before using it again.

 

I'm currently testing with a Bard 1/Ranger 4.  Animal gets the Atk/Dmg bonuses from the PC's bardic inspirations when in range.

[Lugaid of the Red Stripes]

The pack animal idea is interesting, I could just re-use the Bao Bao scripts from tDU - maybe rationalize it with a 'fetch my kit' conversation - the dog doesn't actually carry the bag, just fetches it when you ask her.

 

Selkie Dawg's island is now hidden behind some pretty tough kobolds, so I'm happy with her being a nice smuggling exploit for higher-level characters.  Come to think of it, those gendarmes aren't much of a problem once the player's found the boatmen, maybe I need to add in some XP for smuggling the hard way.

 

Another random idea - have Selkie Dawg set up as a support-type companion, combination bard, rogue, and cleric.  I could re-write her backstory to give her some undead-fighting bonuses and an intimidating/inspiring howl.  As a rogue she could trip traps, or steal items like kobold eggs.

[GCoyote]

Except for occasionally failing to follow the PC through a transition, the Bao Bao style porter worked quite well and also fit into the context of tDU story line very neatly.

 

A playable Selkie Dawg could be interesting if it had some legend or back story.  Able to "smell evil" or something else a community living in a magical setting would logically try to breed for.

---

I"m up to 'line in the sand'.  No serious issue so far and very few minor ones.

[GCoyote]

... Come to think of it, those gendarmes aren't much of a problem once the player's found the boatmen, maybe I need to add in some XP for smuggling the hard way.

 

Another random idea - have Selkie Dawg set up as a support-type companion, combination bard, rogue, and cleric.  I could re-write her backstory to give her some undead-fighting bonuses and an intimidating/inspiring howl.  As a rogue she could trip traps, or steal items like kobold eggs.

 

Or the boatmen might not be willing to haul a smuggler around without getting a cut!

 

Selkie - have her heal wounds by licking them clean eh?  On my last play through, Capt. Reyolds helped my PC clean out the Customs Warehouse and the governor's strong box.  Just two of the possibilities for a good thief.

[GCoyote]

Busy week but I managed to get through all of the quests and try out most of the functions added to 2.0.

• I did not get around to actually borrowing money from the money lender or opening a charge account with Marlowe.
• I did do business on credit with all of the New Market merchants, the monk, and Musgrove's/Happy Gecko.  A couple of minor issues which I included in the notes I sent by email.
• Collected and used or sold all of the forage items.

Compared to the earlier versions, A Line in the Sand ran very smoothly this time.  All of the NPCs did what they were supposed to do and the militia held the mission.  There were no issues with the goblin horde failing to start the attack or with endless waves in a do-loop.  Very nice!  The messages to the player were impossible to miss.

 

General observations.  

• The terrain was actually better than the original which I did not expect.  The original was great.  This is outstanding.
• Most general purpose magical items (wands, scrolls, etc.) are no longer available.  That will make the module a bit harder for some class combinations but more consistent with intended low magic, wilderness, and backwater setting. 
• A player sticking to the basic ranger class should be able to proceed without going too much in debt.  A player going for a class that needs heavy armor or other expensive gear will probably have to borrow to get decently equipped.  
• The larger number of terrain transitions between areas is a better fit with back story of a young man who grew up hunting and gathering in this area.  Exactly the sort of thing a local woodsman should know that the authorities would not. 

 

Questions: Is the Collections quest fully functional?  I bought a warrant and checked all of the mentioned areas for the fugitive gnome but didn't see him anywhere.  That was the last side quest I undertook and after I got the Journal entry for Fireflies -End of Plot.

 

 

[Lugaid of the Red Stripes]

The Collections quest is functional; the easy way is to go to the fortune teller in Port Royal and she'll give you a cryptic clue about the fugitive's whereabouts. 

 

The Tunnel Rat quest is also implemented in this release - it basically runs concurrent to the smuggling quests that climax in Fireflies.  Aside from a re-designed goblin village, though, that quest is more or less unchanged from the original.

 

It's a disappointing you were so frugal, though, GCoyote.  It can be a lot of fun to buy gear on credit from Marlowe, get locked up by the Gendarmes when you can't pay, and have to rely on the kindness of a certain blacksmith to get you out of hock!

[GCoyote]

...
 
It's a disappointing you were so frugal, though, GCoyote.  It can be a lot of fun to buy gear on credit from Marlowe, get locked up by the Gendarmes when you can't pay, and have to rely on the kindness of a certain blacksmith to get you out of hock!

What can I say? I'm a cheap ×%% ¥& in real life too.

[Lugaid of the Red Stripes]

I never really explained how the chat-bot stores work, either in this iteration or tDU, so I want to do that here, and then maybe try to figure out some way to explain it in-game.

 

Each vendor has a list of items that they are either willing to sell to the player (offers) or buy from them (desires) .In tDU, vendors would offer to barter directly, but in this module everything is denominated in gp.

 

The vendor has a separate variable listing the 'value' and 'cost'  of each item.  The 'value' is how much they think the buyer wants the item, and the 'cost' is how much they think it troubles the seller to procure the item.  These values and costs can fluctuate with each transaction.

 

For example, a town grocer might value venison a great deal, but think that the ranger PC can easily acquire the venison by hunting, thus the venison has a low cost.  When the vendor calculates a price for buying the venison from the PC, they cite the average of the value and the cost.  If the PC makes the deal, then the vendor assumes that venison must come easy for the PC, and then lowers the cost for the next round of trading, which in turn lowers the price they offer the PC.

 

It also happens the other way around, when the PC is buying something from the vendor.  Every time the PC buys a particular item, the vendor assumes that the PC must like that item a lot, and so increases the value variable, and the price goes up for the next round (gp also has its own value and cost, though usually the range is quite narrow).

 

So prices can fluctuate, and they fluctuate at different rates for different vendors, depending on how the variables are set up.  The player can affect this fluctuation by using their conversation skills (under the [your purse: XXX, click more actions] dialog option).  The appraise option works most directly on the price, giving the player a better deal on a successful throw.  For each transaction, the player gets five chances to use their conversation skills, each time with a higher DC.  Different vendors have different DCs, so some are easier to haggle with than others.

 

Haggling isn't just about price, cost, and value, though.  It also involves the player's rapport with the vendor.  Successful trades increase rapport, while unsuccessful haggling can lower it.  Each item traded by the vendor has a separate minimum rapport rating listed, so a bad relationship with a vendor can mean that they're unwilling to trade with you, and a good one can mean that they offer you special items.

 

In this module, the rapport rating is also used to determine how much credit the vendor is willing to extend you.  So a diplomatic (or intimidating) PC can chat up a vendor, increase their rapport, and then buy their goods solely with credit.

 

I know it all seems long-winded and complicated, and rather pedestrian to spend your game time haggling over the price of milk when you're used to just dumping half your inventory into the store GUI, but helps give a sense that the PC actually has relationships with these NPCs, relationships that slowly change over time through the player's actions.  Mostly though it makes trade a bit more nuanced than running from NPC to NPC. 

[kamal_]

The bargaining sounds neat.

[Tchos]

I think so, too.  It's the best dynamic economic system I've yet heard of for this game.

[GCoyote]

It's definitely a change from the Monty Haul style seen in so many other modules.  The vendors in the update of LotD fit logically into the background of the story in a way that is actually pretty rare.