Re: Faction trees a wash?

John Sloan (johns@unipalm.co.uk)
Tue, 30 Nov 93 11:07:57 GMT

"C.M. Yearsley" <cmy@cs.keele.ac.uk> wrote :

>>
>> So do the tree-of-lords add enough to the game to make them worth keeping,
>> or should units simply be owned by the faction (all lords would be the
>> player #; HEIR command goes away).
>>
>
>Leave it as it, I think; I really like the idea. My 'tree' is mostly
>flat, I admit; but not completely. My faction has now split into
>two halves, half building and half trading/exploring. Any more nobles
>I form are unlikely to be hirectly loyal to my main character,
>so my 'tree' will get more treelike.

I couldn't agree more. Its not broken, so don't fix it.
Part of the reason it is underutilised is that most nobles are oath loyal. With
fewer NPs around, this will become less true, and the faction heirarchy will
start to become more important.

>
>Even if only slightly used, I strongly support keeping it. It adds
>colour to the game - it certainly does no harm, so why change it?
>
>I have no strong feelings about the 'show lord of noble' idea. I think
>there should be a way of hiding loyalty, certainly. Whether hidden
>should be the default state or not I don't know. I _think_ I support
>the idea - would it diminish player interaction though?
>
>I suppose it shouldn't; you can send messages to nobles without knowing
>who 'owns' them, and if nobles want to announce their allegiance they
>can have a suitable description. It might add to interaction, with more
>possibilities for stealth and sneakiness...yes, why not!
>
>If a noble belongs to a sociaty, however, I think that should be hidden.
>Let them announce it or not as they choose; otherwise we limit the
>possible societies.

I again agree. There is no reason for someone who sees one of my nobles to know
to whom he is aligned, or indeed whether or not he _is_ aligned.

>If a faction 'Lords of Doom' want all their nobles to join
>the Assassins Guild, they should have a way to hide what they're doing...
>as long as some way exists to try to track them down, of course....
>and if something is specifically hidden, it should be a little harder
>to find than it was to hide (or the act of hiding has achieved nothing).

I would have thought that mind reading would be a tricky skill to learn...
Mind you, terrorising someone would probably get you their allegiance (or
should).

>Chris
>
>--
>Chris Yearsley
>cmy@cs.keele.ac.uk

John


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