Rebalanced Professions

[Anonymous]

[size=8pt]Agreed. Also some of the professions just seemed strange. Like football player. It’s been five days after the Cataclysm so why would you still be in full gear? I just tried using the JSON file but apparently I get a crash whenever I try to select handy man or survivalist. I can not choose those nor go below/above them. Hm.[/size]

[Anonymous]

[size=8pt]#Handyman
#Law Enforcement Officer
#Survivalist

These three professions seem to cause an Segmentation fault (core dumped) error and crash the game when trying to select them. I’m using Linux Console, version: 0.9-594-gf1e8ec7.[/size]

[GlyphGryph]

Should be fixed now!

[Anonymous]

[size=8pt]When starting a new game as the lab technician I get the following error: cataclysm: src/newcharacter.cpp:343: bool player::create(game*, character_type, std::string):

Assertion `Skill::skill(iter->first)’ failed. Aborted (core dumped)

I’ll go through all the professions and give my thoughts/suggestions/comments if they work or not.

Edit: I figured out what was wrong with the lab technician profession. Under skills it is written as computers instead of computer. This caused an error when trying to start a new game as it.[/size]

[dwarfkoala]

So will professions have the possibility of spawning in a place that’s not the shelter? I could see some interesting situations, such as getting a point or two from spawning in the middle of town or spawning in an office tower or public works or cabin or something.

[infectedmochi]

Not at the moment IMO, but different starting places is planned.

[Redwallzyl]

i think you should add socks to all the professions i don’t know why they don’t have them in the first place.

[FunsizeNinja123]

Not wearing socks give -5 to moral because uncomfortable.

[VampyreLord]

[quote=“Anonymous, post:6, topic:4078”][size=8pt]That is just it though. There should be a good bit for gameplay and role play purposes I think. The previous amount of professions was a bit too much as little changed besides the name and maybe a couple of items. More diversity is nice but not to a point where everything seems generic.[/size]

Yeah, I doubt people play the ones like biker, or senior citizen, or hitchhiker (even though I love the reference) or student. People correct me if im wrong and you do play with those, they seem a tad redundant to me though.[/quote]I always thought of student as a mandatory to the list professions, I mean you are a student if you don’t have a profession and you start with a backpack and some textbooks which is fine.

And please keep the shower victim as it is.

[kevin.granade]

Not wearing socks give -5 to moral because uncomfortable.

You joke, but that may well happen. (or maybe you aren’t joking, hard to tell sometimes)

[FunsizeNinja123]

Both. This gives incentive to wearing socks and a bit of humor dashed in.

[jimboblordofeskimos]

Not wearing socks give -5 to moral because uncomfortable.

Only if the Hippie profession gives a +5 for not wearing shoes.

[FunsizeNinja123]

Yes.

[VampyreLord]

[quote=“FunsizeNinja123, post:15, topic:4078”]Not wearing socks give -5 to moral because uncomfortable.[/quote]I will only accept this if it was the most realistic game ever, otherwise, not an option.

[Brian_Lefler]

I think this is a great improvement, the poll suggests people aren’t picking a lot of the existing professions and I am excited to see incentives to take something other than hobo and shower victim.

Specific suggestions:

• Tailor - tailor skill down to 3, that’s enough to fit clothing and sewing kit is superdesirable for starting gear.
• Lab Technician - needs some kind of bag (pouch if it’s big enough, messenger bag otherwise) to accommodate the 18 volume chemistry set. Also, why not amp it up? Make it a full blown scientist, up the cost to 3, increase cooking to be sufficient to brew mutagens (or a book to get up there), remove the other skills, and add in a Science ID. Now people impatient to mutate can pay a bit extra and get started early.
• Lumberjack/Backpacker - These should cost 1 point (and probably give survival 2). Backpack or axe+jacket is great starter gear and if you price it at 0 there’s no reason to take Unemployed.
• Hacker - give a laptop and a messenger bag, it’d be thematic and useful. I might lower Computer to go with that, but then again, Computer’s not that useful.
• Crackhead - maybe rename back to Prostitute or Streetwalker and restore old text. Some kind of theme is nice to go with those high heels (perhaps streetwalker makes it more clear that you’re drug-addled). Superhappy to see a cost of -2 for this and Hobo, which I think is more accurate of a price.
• Tweaker - I wouldn’t add this at all. Honestly, the choice and intensity of addiction is kinda irrelevant since whatever happens, you can sleep it off and wear a filter mask to avoid sickness. Adding a new profession at cost -3 is just going to shift those who currently play hobos to being tweakers.
• Home Mechanic - Rename Mechanic. Also, would a hacksaw and duct tape give you enough gear to get a car together at the getgo by moving an Inline-4 engine into a vehicle with wheels? If so, that’d be pretty sweet.
• Bow Hunter - shorten to Hunter, give a quiver instead of upgrading pants to cargo pants.
• Law Enforcement Officer - shorten to Law Enforcement. Downgrade to cargo pants.

I don’t know what the decision on removing content ended up being, but you do probably want to add in the 3 professions that had multiple votes but aren’t in yet: Punk Rock Girl (as before, but cost at 1), otaku (differently dressed tailor?), baseball player (as before, cost 1).

I really wish for Unemployed to be more described in more generic terms, named something like “Blank Slate”, “Nobody Famous”, or “Survivor”, with a description that’s just an optimistic tone about forging anew and not being defined by what you were before the cataclysm. We can’t possibly enumerate every character concept in the world, so I see a lot of value in a default profession that gives players explicit permission to roleplay whatever past they want, especially if we continue on the current path of trying to list all the options. Every time we add a flavor profession in the style of Senior Citizen and Clown, we are implying more and more that you can’t be a Garbage Man or a Lawyer because nobody wrote that up.

[Zireael]

GlyphGryph: Does the link point to the fixed file?

[Anonymous]

GlyphGryph: Does the link point to the fixed file?

[size=8pt]
Yes, it is mostly fixed. The only error that remains is the Lab Technician. But this is easy enough to correct. Simply load up the professions.json file, locate the Lab Technician, and change the skill “computers” to “computer”.[/size]

[Pumbletron]

I like how Failed Android is now -2 points, is a good number. However, I think it should be okay to have relatively useless and non-played professions in the list, like Clown. It brings flavour to the world, and gives your chosen character some personality. I would be sad if these went away.

[GlyphGryph]

Yeah, I’m fine with having the other professions if someone wants to update them, but they’d have to be reviewed and modified where appropriate, and the ones I did were time consuming enough. Feel free to make a PR to my branch with the others though!

Also, Lefler:
Tailor - Note that he doesn’t start with fire OR a knife. He pays a steep starting price for an easy to train skill, let’s be honest.
Lab Technician - Might add a full scientist later, and for now it’s assumed he’s carrying the chemistry kit. Maybe I should just remove it.
Lumberjack/Backpacker - “Backpack or axe+jacket is great starter gear and if you price it at 0 there’s no reason to take Unemployed.” - Except the fact that the default profession has a knife AND fire, which neither of these professions do. Both of those are also very good starting gear, arguably better than storage or an axe.
Hacker -Laptop and Messenger bag is a good idea. Will check and see if that changes his balance significantly. Not worried about the high level in computers since it’s not really a core skill (the level I decide to give them depends on how versatile the skill is and how easy it is to train. It’s obvious where this one lost out, I think)
Crackhead - There are things to be said for implying things, giving the player choices about how they interpret the character. At the very least I want every gendered profession to have a male and female mechanical equivalent, so we’ll see.
Tweaker - The primary difference between this and the other addicts is that he starts with no drugs (both the others do), almost no clothing, no knife, etc. I might well just pull the lighter from him as well, make him the more miserable version of the shower victim (except with a pair of mostly useless pants)
Home Mechanic - If I added those items, it would probably push him a step up, I think. I might make another proper tier 2 mechanic equivalent if there’s demand for it, which is part of why I went with the home mechanic appellation for the tier 1.
Bow Hunter - From what I understand, others would like to add different types of hunters. I don’t particularly want the Bow Hunter to be seen as the [i]only[/i\ hunter. The point about the quiver is well made, though.
Law Enforcement Officer -Why shorten the name to something that isn’t a profession or even a description of a dude? If I was going to shorten it, it would be to Officer or LEO or Cop or Deputy or something. I might well change the pants to regular pants though.

Have you actually played any of them yet? That’s the feedback I’m really hoping for here, how they actually play.

[Zireael]

I like the full-blown scientist idea. I am going to grab the file and test…