Race and faction relations

Discussion in 'Side Quests' started by bk3k, Dec 5, 2015.

  1. bk3k

    bk3k Oxygen Tank

    I think Starbound could have different (procedural) quests available that should you accept will make some races like you, and others hate you. By default your own race probably likes you, and others are mistrustful. But you can change that through questing. Perhaps some races are allied with yours by default, while others are enemies by default.

    How such missions will affect standings should be very clear and apparent before accepting it.

    Not all such missions will antagonize other races. A mission to rescue a Novakid would only raise standing with the Novakid, unless that mission happens to involve blasting lots of Glitch who are after him/her. But something like "bring these supplies to the village at these co-ordinates" probably won't make anyone else mad.

    Now the point of all that would be -
    1. Races or factions who hate you shoot on sight when you enter their territory. If they simply dislike you, they won't trade with you, or only sell you low end junk at high prices.
    2. Those who love you won't shoot even in dungeons. They might even have exclusive quests to get exclusive gear in such micro-dungeons.

    Note that diverse places like the Outpost would never be hostile, and the best place to repair damaged relations.

    You could make it a bit more complicated than that. Each race could have 3 sub-groups. Government, Criminal, and Rebel. So with that mission above where you had to rescue the Novakid from the Glitch that are after him/her, the Government Glitch will approve because those are Criminal Glitch you are killing, and the Rebel Glitch will be neutral on the matter. The 3 faction idea makes for great lore options too.

    It might also make sense that upon character creation you can choose to be a Government, Rebel, Criminal, or neutral(until you accept missions which alters this).
     
    octoling, Luneto, Thalant and 3 others like this.
  2. Kaede Grimwater

    Kaede Grimwater Existential Complex

    i like this. i do think this should be a thing.
     
  3. D.M.G.

    D.M.G. Master Astronaut

    There's quite something to dig in. But it'll have to be different for the Apex, due to the fact that you're actually a lad who escape from Bi Ape's hands.
     
  4. bk3k

    bk3k Oxygen Tank

    I think they could add your starting affinity to Character creation. The starting text/story would depend on what you choose.

    The text the Apex get now would fit a Rebel Apex start perfectly.
     
  5. Lichen

    Lichen Big Damn Hero

    Kinda great like a faction relation rated from
    Hero>Idolized>>Friendly>Indifferent>Cautious>Infamous>Hostile
    As you start the game you'll also given a choice of origin to decide the starting reputation of each faction
     
    bk3k likes this.
  6. bk3k

    bk3k Oxygen Tank

    I'm down with that or a similar rating system. In any case I'd want your standing with various factions to be transparent not "well they're shooting me so I guess they don't like me."

    I don't know about letting you individually set each individual standing because that opens up the possibility of trying to simply make everyone love you etc. It would be sort of cheaty. The whole point is to vary things up and force you to make choices. So actually messing with default relations on that level is probably best left to the realm of modding.

    I figure that your race/faction background would carry with it default ratings for other races/factions. But I would imagine you wouldn't start a "Hero" for anyone. You'd have to really earn that. And earning that is going to earn you "Hostile" with anyone opposed to the factions that love you.

    I'd say an "Indifferent" rating would apply to all factions by default if you play a modded race. Perhaps "unaffiliated" could even be an option for vanilla races too, except any racial biases would still apply. A modded race could optionally define the default affiliations with others.

    But I do like your rating system and think it works well with this idea. Perhaps indifferent is good enough to not get attacked most places, but a secure military installation would require a better rating to not be hostile. Also those ratings could have effects like how tolerant they of you walking around with a weapon drawn. They'll be slower to attack if they are friendly towards you, quicker if they are cautious about you.

    Maybe you could also have a quick non-obtrusive popup when you enter an area(dungeon/microdungeon) that tells your current standing with the primary occupants. Something simple like small colored text on screen with your rating that disappears after a few seconds (or if you leave).
     
  7. bk3k

    bk3k Oxygen Tank

    I have another idea that probably could have it's own thread, but it really ties into this is idea.

    Certain systems(probably decided during universe generation) would be under the control of certain races/factions. They're likely to have more installations, towns, etc belonging to the controlling faction. Besides villages, they may also have towns,cities large farms, etc. Also they would be heavy with roaming NPCs even outside of the microdungeons but fewer monsters. It would make sense as these are more heavily settled systems.

    Controlled systems are places you would die often if the controlling faction hates you. Probably it would be better to come with a multiplayer team in that case, or just avoid it entirely.

    Most systems would not be particularly under the control of anyone. They'd be just like systems now - a random mix of anything and everything. If the system is controlled, you should be able to tell that from the starmap just like you can tell a radiated star from a gentle star.

    Some (rare) systems may even be contested, with missions to affect that outcome. They could be really dangerous war zones(and I have ideas for such biomes too) that you don't want to enter without high level gear and won't be easy even with it.

    A "mixed" system might contain multiple race/factions each holding a planet or two, who are not hostile towards each other. They would basically work like a standard "controlled" systems, but on a planet-by-planet (or moon) basis.

    You could also have the opposite of settled systems - "wild" systems that are much like the current systems but won't contain villages as they are essentially unsettled. They wouldn't be as particularly rare as controlled systems. They may have ruins, or even a hermit living alone. They'll have very few NPCs in total, but a far higher population of monsters than current systems. The strength of the monsters themselves will be according to the danger level. These will be more dangerous systems than a regular system at the same danger level, but richer in resources.

    You should start in a system that either isn't controlled, or is controlled by your faction(perhaps this is the best option). It would be very nasty to start in a system controlled by a faction that hates you. A wild system would be do-able, but you'll die more starting out.
     

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