Arcanum:WIP 6.0 now available

1) Well, since I haven't done anything in the Void yet, you might be able to get those saves to work. Of course, I can't make any promises on that.

4) Yep, there's no shortage of money in the game.
So far, I've added three mercenaries, some rather expensive magical gems, and a hobbit-hole to help offset that, and I'm keeping my eye open for other ways to separate the players from their money.

Invisible enemies - Oh, yeah. My favorite.
I've already added the first one to some port ruins in Vendigroth. There will be more once I get going on the north lands.

The speech clips - Thanks again, but I'll pass.

 

An inventor has no need for magical gems Still might be nice to see if point 1 works than.
For the rest it is of course your mod and call :thumbup:

 

Could add wondering merchants. Either in town, or people you meet like the hand in random encounters. Give them some common items, but a few really rare, really expensive items. A treat to find them, and a money sink.

 

Gato - Good idea and it is planned - including reworking the inventories for hard-to-find items being a little more hard-to-find (just a little).

 

Really I think what there needs to be is more guards. Stationary fellas that hang around merchants. With almost no pickpocketing skill I can clean out shrouded hills over and over and over, money becomes no problem. Having hired guards that stand in a place where they can see you vandalizing back rooms would certainly help. Make you really need that prowl skill to bypass them. No more minor thieves stealing everything in sight, if you want to steal, better be good at it.

 

RRoyo since you're looking for suggestions on ways to make the player spend money or make it difficultto hoard a lot of it here are a few considerations:

- A simple solution would be to place guards like our friend above suggests, inside each shop, so that there's always someone to watch the shop.

- Another would be to simply make the "shop containers" magically held, so that the player could not force or diosperse the thing without waking up the owner.

- The problem with either approach is that in a way, it takes away from the reality of thievery in that "whats the point of being a thief" if you cant burglarize a shop without anyone taking notice.

-----------------------------

Now as far as ways to make the player spend money, one way would be to tie it into the main storyline by creating new fees or adjusting the existing ones.

THe trick would be to do it in such a way so that the its feasible that the player reach that point of the game with money, otherwise if he can earn it too fast it defeats the puprpose, or if it takes too long, by the time he reaches said point he will have levelled up and will be able to munchkin his way through.

Unless of course you assume that you only want these large expensed towards the latter part of the game.

Either way, here are a few options:

1) Buy a house/building in each town:

- SH: create a small house
- DH: One of the empty ones on the east side.
- BR: The one where Tyron's not is.
- AB: Malachi Rench's castle (very expensive)
- TR: Dolores Beston's house after the quest, A warehouse
- CL: The house just outside of the town.
- RB: No idea.

2) Make the small acolyte with the three artifats in Caladon SELL them to you to proceed with the quest

3)Make it so that you can only access certain areas you created for WIP require a hefty fee...maybe the passage to Cattan and prohibit Teleportation ocer there.

4)Have a price for going to Vormantown that doubles every time to "borrow" the boat to get there....

 

Could cut the price on some magic stuff. I'm a tech person, I sell most the magic junk I find. For a world inundated with magic, amazing how much I can sell an enchanted robe for. Tech stuff is what should cost a lot more, since it's rare.

Probably too much work, and too far outside the games normal standings to do that.

It's too much work, but you know what would work well? Food and drink, make the characters need food and drink a few times a day. It would eat cash, and make the character prepare for trips better.

Could also increase the cost of repairing goods.

Too bad inventory of a merchant isn't easy to track..least I hadn't heard it was. Dynamic pricing. Set a percentage based around how many of the same item the merchant has. If he has a lot, it's cheap, if only one, it isn't. Same for selling goods, try to sell to many of the same item, you won't get much for it.

 

Actually it depends heavily what I play how my money is.
As said my inventor is loaded with money, but I think that is a nice touch.
My Half-Ogre ended the regular game with only 7000.
It is possible to get a lot of money, but your character needs to be build for it - thief or inventor are the best for that.
Pure magic guys - well as gato said not many tech wear that is easy sell and potions I stock up on.
Pure Melee-Dodge even harder.
Might also be the fact, as said before, I roleplay the characters and I don't do all quests in every life.

 

My thoughts exactly. There are other ways to slow the monetary build-up, and I just need to get busy and get them in place.
Things like renewing mercenaries fees*, annual property taxes, docking fees, servants' wages (for the mansion).
*Instead of a one-time price and they'll follow you forever, set it up to where every 30 days or so they'll leave your party and you either hire them again or say goodbye. Similar to what was done in Shadowrun.

A scaled down version of this is in the works - S.H. - but maybe I should expand my thinking. Thanks. *makes notes*

#2 I think this would interfere with the flow of the game and I'll have to pass on it.

#3 is not bad, but if the price is too high, by the time the player does get to the island, they're up enough in levels to make the adventures too easy or they'll simply find another way. I need to keep Cattan access within reasonable range.
Perhaps an area or two on the island could cost a fortune for access - say, a hefty bribe to get into Bone Hill (a heavily-guarded necropolis - it's a long story) or to learn of an unguarded spot for a mansion in Monaco.
I will have to pass on the teleportation blocking for Cattan because I'm going to be adding Drog's personal teleport scripts, and blocking teleport renders them useless. No, Cattan will have to remain accessable to teleport.

#4 I'll have to think about that one. The boat use is normally a one-time occurance, and you don't need to leave Vormantown to find a place to rest, would the rescripting really be worth it?

The base prices for items is encoded into the protos, which I still don't know how to alter. It's a good idea though.

Yes, indeed! I've often wondered why Troika didn't include this.
At the moment, I have no idea where to even begin on adding this to the game-play. It might need a re-write of the main exe to make this work.
*adds to old note*

I think this one's do-able. Without checking, I believe repair prices are handled through scripting so bumping up the prices would be easy enough.
Thanks!

I don't know if this is do-able, but it would add a bit of realism to the game. *makes note* If I ever get to be good at scripting, I'll have to try this.

 

Game developers never do this be it BG, BG2, Fall Out, Arcanum, Diablo as it becomes micro managment and deranges from the game.

P.s. Do houses give you a better reputation in that village? Might be worth the thought so it is more than just throwing away money. Like a +5/+10 bonus to reaction or so (depending on house).

 

You're Rroyo...a lot of the scripting wouldn't be worth the hassle when youlook at cost-benefit.

One of the things you did right was charging a rather hefty price for those anti-grav gems.

That got me thinking that perhaps the key would be try to to address the matter in those game aspects which are level/class/style independent.

With the gems you hit the nail on the head as regardless of level, they come in pretty handy because even great gear weighs a lot.

So basically its something the players "want to spend money on" because it improves their gameplay.

The item you created that grants an "exra-follower" is also a good example of this as some players like the idea having as large a party as possible.

And you are so correct about the "extra cost" not being something so expensive to the point where the expereince obtained as a result makes the rest of the game too easy.

One possibility I see is one that goes back to something we talked about awhile back:

Random encounters.

Now I'm not sure how hard the scripting would be, but the general idea is something like:

Whenever the player is travelling via world map with a certain amount of gold on his person (let's say, > 3000 for the sake of it), there is an ever increasing chance...based on how much more they are carrying that they will be confronted by a pair or group of "ridiculously overpowered" bandits who will demand they hand over all their gold.

When I say "ridicuolously overpowered" I'm talking about something even a level 50 player would have trouble with. They don't necessarily have to have great items or gear, but simply very skilled NPCs who are likley to kill the player 95% of the time, so the player ends up realizing that forking over his cash might be the best option so as not to die.

Now the trick would be to have the "chance" of such an encounter be high enough so that the player doesn't try to get over it by save/reload

While at the same time, not seeting it too high so as to keep the gameplay smooth.

In any case, provided the "money carried" condition trigger works, once the player pays up, he won't risk being boethered again until he risks land-travel again with the requisite amount.

Now ideally the chance of such an encounter should increase as the amount of money carried increases, to the point where after a certain value, the encounter is almost a certainty. (this in itslef could be fun for very high level players who would relish the chance at some real combat).

Now you're probably thinking "but the player can still get around this"...yes it's true. Suppose he simply:

- Travels by Boat or Train

- Purchases Teleport Scrolls or learns the entrie Conveyence school.

- Hoards his gold in one spot and travels back and forth with smaller quantities.

- Buys items, travels, then resells them, taking a small loss.

Well my friends, if the player is smart enough to do that than they should get away with it cos not only does it make sense, but it also fits in with the game.

How realistic is it that a lone warrior can travel over land with over 30,000 gold in his pocket and not get bothered by anything more dangerous than a couple of bears, two molochean hand bozos or a troup of orcs with shitty weapons?

Travelling with a lot of gold should be a dangerous affair IMHO.

Anyway...I leave the rating of the difficulty of such a task to our experienced brethren.
Once again...it'sjust an idea

 

Been basing most my suggestions on mods for another popular RPG Morrowind. Necessities of Morrowind added need for food and drink. Amazing what it would does for your thought process. No more just wondering around for fun, you have to start paying attention to how long a trip is, making sure you have enough food to last.

Not sure I like the idea of Uber bandits coming after me. Sort of punishes the character for doing well. Now an increased change of normal level thugs sure. Could have them on a scale, 1-50, higher chances of lower leveled thugs. Since you know the level of the person you're talking to, a representation of your character sizing up the opponent, this seems fair. If you're level 5 and the opponent is level 50, pay and hope they don't kill you. If you're level 30 and the thug is level 3, laugh and find out what they kept in their pockets after you kill them.

I wonder if some sort of alarm is possible. The fact that I can steal someone's back room key, then right in front of them walk back there, open the door, and dig around seems a bit..fake. If I sneak back and use the key while they're asleep, fine, they're sleeping. Again this might be a place where prowl becomes useful for thieves, you can try sneaking back their in day light.


I wonder if more store randomization is possible. A chance that even in some of the smaller towns one of the pawn shops might come up with some really rare, high end, expensive, but amazing gear. If possible I'd say have the merchant keep it on their person or somewhere harder to steal than just in the crate in the back with everything else.

 

Deathsangel: The needing food idea was used rather successfully in Ultima and Morrowind (which I haven't played), and I found it actually encouraged me to plan ahead for trips rather than just hit the road. Of course, it could be just the way I play. Someone else might think it to be a major hassle.

The two houses that are currently available; the Bates Mansion and the Underhill farm; do give local 10% reaction bonuses.

FourHorsemen: The random uber-gang encounters is intriguing but I'm not sure how possible it is to set up.

Given my forseeable scripting skill level, I think I'd be better off with the annual fees, mercenaries, and some really skilled pickpockets.

Gato: You're right, the Ristezzie trick is a bit lame. Perhaps when I set up the Wolfsbane thieft, I'll figure out a way to correct this.

And more randomization is posssible, but for the most part you're limited to what's been encoded into that merchant's inventory. It's simply a matter of adjusting the percentage of appearance for select items.

For the merchants that use an inventory that's not carried on their person, the only way to get a new item to appear is to add it to their chest, barrel, or what-have-you.
Giving, say, an uber-sword directly to a blacksmith is almost useless because the player can't buy it.
Now there is a way around that with scripting as the NPC can "show" you an item via the dialog, and if you purchase it, it is created in your inventory.

 

Now that would be cool. Add a "do you have anything special" dialog option. Lots of knows, the occasional yes I just got it, just found, just got sold, etc. This "insert item here". If the player wanted to see the item, could a normal seller window be opened with the item? Something where the player can get a good look at the item and its stats? Maybe the player says yes, script adds item to sellers chest, seller window opens. If item isn't removed from sellers chest by player buying it, script removes the item.

 

Rroyo...yeahI know...wishful thinking...but it has possibilities...may Drog or Team A could pitch in with his assement of the idea and if its at all possible...at least we'd all know if it'dc be barking up the wrong tree.

Either way, annual and merc fees is a great idea to be honest...especially if you add more merc followers like you talked about earlier.

Better Pickpocketers would be awesome...especially in a town like Tarant where you'd end up having to chase around for them later...kind of like street urchins.

 

Not that I know of. TONGSyaBASS created the Kiss of the Werebeast hack which uses the dialog-based showing and I'm copying what he did.

Scripting can be used to create an proto-based item in a NPC, PC, or even beside the player's party, but I don't think Arcanum's scripting will allow something to be created in an inventory chest. Of course, I could be wrong.
I've got to check this out.....

Yep!

 

I would not put Ultima and Morrowind in the same class as Arcanum. They have a different system and feel. Arcanum lies more with the other in my opinion.

I don't know if feasible, but if you do wish to implement this, you may want to make it optional install, for it might be a make or break point for others.

Hope you don't mind me budding in like that. Just finishing a few lives that are way to far to restart before installing WIP 4.4

 

Not too long ago I was asked about making a Dark Elf available for a PC.
Well, here's why that wasn't available in the stock game:

Sorry folks. I wasn't planning on a complete reworking of the game, so the Dark Elves will remain NPCs.

 

Well, if Dark Elves aren't available, there's other things to consider. Such as, I wonder what all would be necessary to allow female halflings and gnomes as PCs.

I'd heard "the animations weren't finished", but I'm not sure what the actual real-world impact of this. Does this mean that, say, if I sneak an axe onto Mrs. Morat and then attack her that she won't be able to swing it at me?

Just thinking out loud, more or less.

 

As additional PCs? - A reworking of the game.

Also - The short females like Mrs. Morat can only use daggers or bare hands to fight.

Given her height, it sort of makes sense.