It is common knowledge that NPC’S in this game (survivors) are in an unfinished state. They are useable but not at their full potential. While I have my own ideas regarding how they they should develop and contort I am eager to hear the opinions of others. I for one believe that strongholds and bands or even creeds of survivors should be about. In fortifications or barely holding on in swaths of the tar menace. With modifications that make your interactions with the mutants, “standards”, and the mechanically augmented have actual faction based rewards and consequences. With expansion, annihilation, revenge, wars, etc.
I just want suicide vest filled with a few kilograms of explosives and scrapnal. Atleast that way we can make use of their suicidal stupidity.
3 Likes
The biggest issues I have with them atm:
- They should have an option to craft on their own outside of faction camps
- A lot of NPC activities still cannot “catch-up” when they enter your reality bubble. E.g. reading, constructing, …
- Ability to set default task if they are idle (so if they finish something they don’t come near you and yell at you to move aside, but begin working on something else).
- Ability for them to also install parts into vehicles on their own
- Being able to follow right next to you (right now the closest is two steps away)
4 Likes
A rimworld inspired base management system. Place designated construction plans for them to build, and make them be able to craft all the items the player can instead of specific ones, based on placed objects on the map such as forges, vehicles (onboard stoves, forges, chesmistry labs - all linked to solar panels and they using them would be great) and resources available ofc.
A task system would be awesome to have too. Assign people to craft or work without you having to keep telling them when to do it all the time - For exemple, as of right now, on camps you have to tell when a farmer should plant crops and when he should harvest it. Instead, it could be something like telling a farmer to take care of it and he would do it automatically, or telling the guy responsible for crafting that he should craft 20x of something everyday.
With tasks there could be a teaching task too - Make npcs learn unarmored fighting everyday with a blackbelt teacher for exemple.
So, in general, make them more independent of the player and useful.
6 Likes
I want NPCs to have the ability to drive/fly vehicles while avoiding obstacles, and also try to ram through zombies or the player depending on their hostility.
I want a follower to be able to drive me somewhere while I sleep or work on a craft, or use a vehicle to meet up with me faster than by foot. Soon there will be NPC mind swapping which could achieve this, but even then it would still be the player driving.
4 Likes
A few things.
Of course, this should depend on how much they like you. A stranger would tell you to go to hell. A valued member of your team who has been through hell and back with you who views you as a leader there should be no issues.
Also, the new “switch control to NPC feature” helps.
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assign areas. Welcome to camp. Here’s where you sleep, here’s where we eat, here’s where components to make stuff if I ask are, etc Like Dwarf Fortress.
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More Freeform assign jobs. “Go fix the windshield on the death wagon”, “go wash these clothes and tear them into tailoring components”, “You got 5 tailoring, fix your damn ripped pants”
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Be able to make you wear better/use stuff without a convoluted dialog tree menu.
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Be able to make you willingly take mutagens so you can join the cool kids if so inclined.
5 Likes
Also… Static and quest/ faction NPC
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Day/Night cycle. In Ultima 5, all town NPCs just did not sit around. Everyone from Lord British to the lowest peasant did things throughout the day. Be it eat, sleep, change guards, etc. If Ultima 5 could do this on 64 K and a load screen, we could do it too! Sadly, even modern titles (like World of Warcraft) have not gotten this.
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Randomized. Why does every evac center have the same folks and same missions? Just like the CDDA world, it would be cool if this was random, too.
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Would be really cool if NPC hubs interacted with the area around them. Ranch not far away? A team would have long looted that.
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Should be possible for NPC hubs to fail due to lack of food or people. Or be encountered overrun. Or be flourishing with the right NPC members. Think Dwarf Fortress.
3 Likes
Though this is less about the NPC’s directly, I want to be able to claim buildings as a base camp instead of crafting it out in the wilderness.
Use zones to say where beds, storage and crafting stations should go, etc.
Unless it was added and I missed it
6 Likes
Well, you’ve partially missed it. There are several variants for turning buildings into camps, some of which have been added over the last year or so. However, all base camp variants are built on a framework where construction “blueprints” are used, tied to the building they’re intended for. Shelter and fire station base camp versions have been present for a long time, but I don’t know if the companion dialog has been updated to list every possible building base camps have been designed for in the latest expansion spurt.
The zone system works decently without a base camp, so you can have vehicle repair and dismantling zones for instance (and I’ve seen companions pick up equipment stored in tools zones for working in vehicles, which is impressive).
Base camp tasks are tied to base camp facilities, and it would require a significant overhaul to get base camps to recognize player built facilities (stoves, smoking racks, etc.). It will probably take several years to make significant headway towards a more flexible system, though, but I think there’s a desire to move in that direction.
3 Likes
Yeah, I would love less blueprints and more Freeform.
4 Likes
That sounds awesome!
Once I get an NPC who doesn’t spawn hostile or during a horde I’ll have to try it.
1 Like
Absolutely some better commands, depending on trust level they’ll follow orders to move to specific tiles or attack specific enemies!
NPC construction activity works weird:
- They will not start deconstructing furniture onless I already start that activity for them (just definining the zone is not enough).
- If there is a “tree trunk” terrain in a remove grass zone, they will begin cutting it into planks
- If there is a moss terrain in a remove grass zone, they will begin digging a shallow pit.
hope it’s not necroposting, but would love to see more personality to NPC’s amd more group.
Maybe some wandering group of survivors, or some small fortified groups. CDDA lack so much life sometime.
I used to try modding my own faction, spawning inn a fortified police station, with a moat and a wooden wall surrounding the place, full of survivor and policeman, but i never got to anything working.
3 Likes
I love that Idea!
I can imagine survivors grouped together in boarded up cabins, or remote gas stations and farms or maybe even small enclaves out at remote camps with sparse defenses.
Most of these groups would fall on their own, but with help from you or your group they could eventually upgrade their enclaves to have better defenses and have a somewhat ensured survival in the coming days. Maybe even opening up trade routes if you have a Camp set up.
Meanwhile the bigger outposts like fortified police stations, Ranches, Remote medical clinics or Mansions could have indiscriminate defenses making first contact a mission of it’s own. Each of these could offer specialty goods for a considerable time, or just start off with a massive stockpile and have you trading with them naturally deplete it.
The police station would have Ammo, weapons and similar goods. The Ranch could offer Dairy, limited meat, fresh and dried fruit and veg depending on the season. Medical Clinics would specialize in Medicine items. And Mansions would have rare antiques and Luxury goods like books, drugs/alcohol and swords/armor.
Then you can take the idea further with bandit groups taking over fortified locations as well. having to work through a fortified base of thugs to get to their main home and stockpile or even befriending them by selling out smaller groups. Could introduce a threatening and coercion system to go with such a mechanic, similar to trade but you offer ‘Protection’ or something else similarly vague.
2 Likes
So, small randomly generated “Micro-factions”. I like the idea! Although mutations and military cybernetics could change someone to fit their environment, humanity is better known for modifying their environment to better suit them. Some would certainly booby-trap entire streets or build a moat to keep undead whippersnappers off of their lawn. I’d love to see how different groups try to survive the cataclysm.
1 Like
don’t know anything about coding so a grain of salt is needed, but it’d be nice to be able to “tether” npcs to a human and controlling them both in a sort of conga line. so you basically control two people (or more) and the others just follow exacly in your footsteps. and a way of changing the “leader” on the fly would be nice so you don’t have the cart problem of pushing them into a wall while trying to escape.
you could make it so the movement speed averages or slows to the tardiest character.
2 Likes