This isn't about PC. This is about the appropriateness of portraying slavery in a game meant to be entertainment. I would Love to hear someone successfully argue how it would be "value-added" to portray it in a game. So, Please do continue, I am quite sure you will make most my points for me to the devs without further input from myself.
I have a funny question... If I come to the US will I have to feel guilty about slavery because I'm white? According to liberals whites imvented slavery, right? Maybe I shouldn't mention that my people were enslaved by muslims for 500 years then... Plus 50 years socialism... Man, You can't imagine how hilarious is Your leftist infestation over here...
If you don't call them slaves, consider them prisoners of war. I really don't care for the subject, slaves or no slaves, I am just talking about free labor. If I can force Xirax prisoners to mine for me cool. I am totally partial to this entire debate and don't care for either side. Let's put a end to the debate lol. It's gone off topic and it's going nowhere haha. This is a game and we can leave real world issues out including political and societal issues
Of course we'll have to, You don't have any, other than "No, PERIOD."... Instead thank You for confirming my point, just forgot to add "PERIOD"... I did, You passed by it...
And having specialised NPC's will promote exploration, you'll have to look for them throughout the galaxie, like "oh I'm missing an engineer, let's go find one" @Hicks42 @ion_storm If the devs come here looking for ideas and find a political debate, it's not gonna help.
+1 Absolutely on the right track here. Keep it in line with everything else and have T1, T2, and T3 ranks. Improve ranks by 'upgrading' the crew from the crew UI. Upgrade using 'learning modules'(???) built in a constructor.
@Sofianinho It's not a political debate, it's a debate about people's behavior, and "No, PERIOD." doesn't help either... It's nobody's business, other than devs, to dictate what we can and can't have, especially ending with "PERIOD."
Reputation/Diplomacy Reputation should directly influence diplomacy; Illegal activity reported gives you a lesser standing and lower influence with friendly npcs. "Taboo" acts such as enslaving or selling slaves are looked down upon, unless they are Gun Guns. Some NPC Factions, just won't like you and are hard set against your success. Good vs Evil with advantages on both sides. Influenced by positive/negative actions, "trust" is gained or loss with NPC or NPC faction. Can be accomplished through performing missions, killing enemies, taking POIs, selling/buying with that particular trader, etc. If you aid a Enemy faction of one your allies, you lose trust. Negotiating and Interacting with Allies. Defense and Peace agreements that can't be violated without penalties. Protecting allied assets give reputation. Yes you would earn significant influence in this scenario Daenerys Targaryen
Yes to both of these... ... and to these... ...but 'good vs evil' is so subjective. A simple cause an effect from actions with dynamic relationships between factions (action here = -1 there, -1 there, but +2 there, etc) is what I would personally want to see.
Question: @Hummel-o-War - Is it possible that we might see more and more civilization as we grow closer to the Core worlds? This is probably impossible to answer but I was curious if its planned to have a bustling core sector where we eventually discover Empyrion. This may be beyond the scope of NPC Crews at start, but eventually it could evolve into this............. I would love to see: More NPC's in general, going places, and just living their lives on some planets. Patrols of LEO's, Air Taxi's, and other NPC Factions and Militaries. Planetary mobilization of troops via transport and shuttled by HV. Wars - Some planets undergoing constant conflict Some places should be deserted and ramped down without so many POIs, but most sectors should have at least one planet with a civilized race.
To be fair, this is just my story that I'm writing and it involves lore that has nothing to do with the main game. If people don't want to think of them that way, they shouldn't. The guys I liberate will be cherished in my story, meanwhile in other people's games crew members are for hire. You just never pay them. Which is worse? Now on the question of rapport, it's an interesting idea and I'm open to it being added. I'm also happy to leave this type of role playing in my imagination and story. It really depends on what would come of good or bad relations with a faction. There may or may not be anything to gain from it.
Yes, we want to have more and different NPC „civilizations“ in the game. Tbh we currently work with the zirax and the trader aliens (and the newly added human NPCs, which are not necessarily „terrans“ ). Adding new models for NPC is quite an effort though...that‘s why we currently search for Modelers/Animators and Lead Artists to hire ;-) @slavery (e.g buying and selling NPC) > although this is a debate that is not that uncommon in game space (think of Eve Online and privateer..to only name two) I personally think it is not very likely we will allow NPC to be „sold“ (as we ll change the wording from „buying“ to „hiring“ as soon as we added a real „job board“ device (similar to the traders). And, of course, while we advance with the NPCs as a game mechanic, there will be a „cost“ (or several, like bed + wage) to balance this out.
That's probably for the best, the hiring vs buying of NPCs. I can have my fictional role playing like I always do, and no one else needs to pretend they're freeing slaves! My fiction involves a break-away human faction--separate from the humans that stayed on Earth until leaving to find Empyrion. I make up lots of things and always will, but it's always best if I'm off in my own world! I hope people don't get too far ahead of themselves with the NPC stuff--at least for now--because I don't think anyone wants Bethesda-like NPC companions that just annoy you. LOL! I'm still in a wait-and-see holding pattern on the issue, but of course, I love the NPCs. Question: Can we have an NPC that is similar to a Trader, but he's the Solo and Faction missions guy???? So you would visit any one of these mission NPCs at a POI and he shows you the list of missions available to you. When you select one and activate it, the objectives are shown in the HUD like normal--but you need to go to a mission guy to switch active missions. (I switch often, but I'd love to have the missions be more involved.) When you complete the mission, you'll hear the success sound and the message will say you completed the mission and to visit a 'mission guy'* to collect your reward. This would be a lot more fun than just having the reward appear magically in your inventory. PLUS the other day my husband completed a mission that rewarded him an enhanced minigun, but it was added to the hotbar in his vessel weapons instead of the empty spot in his inventory! Going to a POI to talk to an NPC would eliminate that issue in a more fun way than a tweak to the existing system--if possible. * Mission guy is all I could come up with to call it. I asked Timo for suggestions and he just said, "Missions." So helpful! But you have a lot better ideas than I do.
While we are on the subject of Xirax and the trader aliens. It would be nice to see their society lore evolve. Things we need for every race: Civilian clothes models, Military clothes models, etc. Services that they provide Major resources and technology that are unique to that race Questions for every race: (5 W's and H) Who are they? Who is in charge, and who do they answer to? What do their Males/females look like? What factions are they allied to or at war with? What major construction projects have they completed ? (Large space stations, space elevators, ship yards, etc.) What is their tech level? What special technologies do they have and what scientific breakthroughs have they made? What political events are transpiring at this moment? What type of Government do they have? Where do they come from? Where do they live currently? Where are their major population centers? When did they leave their sector? Why are they unique? How long have they been at war if they are at war? Other Questions: Do they also have other professions, and what is their culture like; neutral, friendly and aggressive (smuggling, pirates) by nature? Do they occupy multiple worlds as a space faring race? Are they associated with major Galactic Factions that control the Galactic core region assuming there is a major faction/factions controlling the core? Traders What is their real name? How do they get around to different Stations/Planets? Xirax Who did they piss off besides me? What percentage of their race are warriors? What event made them decide they wanted to kill humans? What did they do before becoming Galactic Bullies? These are the questions I am curious to have answers to. Oh yah, and do we have Galactic transports and taxi services?
Most of this is already possible with the PDA. Problem to solve: we need a way to activate a mission without the player having tomato to the pda and activating it. Afaik this is the challenge for the next updates. If we can solve this (and a few more side-features like how to pick up, quit, resume or repeat) the rest is a matter of good ideas ;-)
If everything goes accordingly, a lot of these questions will be answered in the next weeks already. ;-)
YESSSSS!!!!!!! That is what I've been wanting for so long since you brought up the ORIGINs updates in Dec 2016. I am glad to hear that it is coming soon.
Since my first reply to this post I have given this much thought and asked myself again and again... "What do I actually want from NPCs in EGS... really". Though there are lots of nice and special things we'd want all NPCs to do and have (I'm thinking in the much broader sense of all games here) in this game I am not sure. After much self deliberation on the matter I want to share my perspective. NPCs should be a structure only thing This comes from... a) the belief that path-finding will never be up-to-scratch enough to manage them coming with you on most terrains... b) I don't want to have to babysit them in the field... c) I can't see them adding anything extra in the field that I can't already achieve or hope to achieve through better methods, and... b) from the experience they will take away from the survival aspects of the game. The NPCs provide a "welcome home" or safety zone feel between excursions into unknown space. They are the rock (when we eventually can afford them as we progress in the game) in our changing universe. They are a thign for us to work towards and maintain and part of the next tier survival aspect as we will not just be surviving for ourselves but for others (albeit for the benefit of ourselves). And ultimately this is the basis for what I want from NPCs - to provide the same comfort and sense of being home that nicely decorated walls and TVs that don't turn on do. To be the visual achievement for where I have come from and what I now risk loosing. This doesn't mean I don't want functionality - because I really do! - but this is the same way that a toilet now provides functionality. I don't want to be reliant on NPCs but they need to add substance and be worth defending and having.