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DF News (7/21)
🕑 Added 2018-07-23 10:00:01 +0000 UTC Man, DF just sounds cooler and cooler with every update! Just so stoked for the future of this game. Take the time to read through this latest post from Bay12games and get pumped!(From bay12games)
07/21/2018
Continuing to mess around with the new party-pet-equipment stuff. The plans for villains as they stand now (destined to change and otherwise run into obstacles):
We already have all of the characters we need: demons, necromancers, vampires, bandits, criminals, as well as potentially ambitious and cruel people of all kinds (civilization leaders, site leaders, priests, position holders like bookkeepers, all the way down to the occasional craftsperson or wandering musician, if their personality is right.) As usual these days, we'll start in world generation to get the basics in, then move those mechanics to play and on into both modes. In world generation and out of the play area, certain parts of schemes have to be abstracted, so we'll likely have a new skill along the lines of 'intrigue' which will determine certain success rates and so on, and we might find some use for it in play as well. The ambitious and/or cruel people with a knack for intrigue will be the successful villains, along with those that have game-systemic advantages (like a demon or necromancer, or a monarch.) The system should be working when the nexus of the world's villainous activity is occasionally off in a village somewhere, while other times it's the well-known monster at the heart of the goblin wasteland. Most likely, there will be many networks operating at once.
It's the network part that's important; none of our in-play ideas for investigation and infiltration will work if there isn't a web of activity. So our first major goal will be to make villains enthusiastic network builders. If they don't have a specific artifact to steal or revenge to plot, they'll still be seeking to ensnare the powerful and influential in their web. This will require us to understand loyalty and trust in-game a bit better than we do now, but a lot of the existing reputation and relationship systems will help when it comes to other important factors like love, fear and respect.
Since a villain won't always be a position-holder in a civilization or other entity, and we don't want the full weight of the entity object clogging up the gears, we'll be handling a lot of this activity via the more streamlined agreement system, which is currently used for adventuring companions, fortress petitions, and a few other matters. The agreements we'll use here will be specific plots, and include at least two parties to the conspiracy, whether that's the original villain and their agent, or a handler lower down the chain and their agent, or an agent and somebody who has been compromised. Due to the structure of these links, the web will always connect back toward the villains, at least while one actor is alive in each link. Each plot will have a specific goal, as well as relevant locations, objects, and so forth, all there to be recounted by a captured agent, or used to taunt you when you fail to stop them.
Individual plot goals might involve the villain's core objectives: acquire artifacts, positions, and pets, and punishing their enemies through assassination, imprisonment, kidnapping, theft, insurrection, or invasion. But plots can also be aimed toward adding another layer to the network. If a visiting agent has turned a fortress bookkeeper, the bookkeeper can attempt to compromise their friends, family and other position holders. If your mayor, nobility, sheriff or guard captain is compromised, we won't end the game, but we'll make it increasingly interesting for you.
Naturally, we need to prevent high-level position holders from being flipped by the first agent that enters the capital, especially in world generation where everything is more abstract. Our plan here is to have a reasonably basic form of counter-intelligence; at the minimum, the supporting characters associated to a target will be able to use their intrigue skill, along with the target's, to root out spies and otherwise prevent infiltration. These safeguards won't be as strong around lower position holders and regular civilians, which will lead to the sort of nesting we're looking for as the plots advance. Of course, there will be occasions where agents simply get lucky, for as long as it lasts.
We have plenty of levers available to compromise targets in the game as it is now, though some of them will have to be somewhat abstracted. Promises of rewards for greedy and ambitious targets, especially if the villain or intermediate agent has such things to offer (artifacts, positions, or more abstractly, a portion of a site's available tribute for that year), fear (for their life, or a family member; more interesting blackmail isn't as easy with what we have though we might attempt something), ideological alignment (easy to check with the value system, though factors like loyalty will need to be accounted for), and revenge (can we blame the player for the death of a family member? what if the player removes a dwarf from a long-held position? or evicts them to the broader world, where the agents roam freely...) are all possibilities. It would be highly, highly suspicious if one of your dwarves suddenly had an artifact, but if we have the agent pass them some valuable non-artifact jewelry, would you notice? We'll be searching for gray areas like this for your entertainment, heh.
Fortunately, due to the work we did with vampires years back among other things, it should be pretty straightforward to give you means to defend yourself. Witnesses will be able to report suspicious activities; the agent will need to meet with a compromised dwarf, after all, and your helpful dwarves might on occasion notice the gifts you overlooked. You might also suspect something yourself if you see the two of them talking too often in a crowded tavern (or are they just buddies?) Once you're sure, you'll be able to arrest a dwarf (any dwarf.) However, you must present evidence. For our purposes in the game for this time, that just means guessing right, as with the regular convictions: you'll need to accuse the correct dwarf of a conspiracy with the correct agent. Failure will upset everybody in the fortress, as with the current wrongful convictions. Arrests that don't lead to accusations will also lead to negative thoughts for everybody.
In the interest of exposition (as the game is confusing enough), a correct accusation will lead to information about the plot, as far as that dwarf is involved. If you manage to arrest the agent, and have properly identified a conspiracy, they'll also give you a hint one step farther up the chain (or you'd never be able to figure it out, most likely.) Then you can send out your own agents to pick up leads on the handler, who will provide more information if captured. Of course, disrupting a plot might make you a target of the villain's complete power set, and defeating their assassins and invaders will sometimes bring you closer to their identity (especially in the case of a non-obvious villain.)
Adventure mode accusations can work similarly, though you'll have to be much more specific than the current "hey, you're a night creature!" blanket accusation you can currently level. We're still working out where adventure mode investigations are more likely to start, as you'll need some hook like the current quest rumors to get you into a position where you can ask anybody anything. If you're a big enough hero, you might simply be targeted, and that will set you on the track.
On the other hand, given that it wouldn't be too difficult a change to give you the ability to hand one of your companions a task in a fort-style map interface, and we'll have a lot of new tasks available, we're also thinking about trying our hand at adventurer villainy as well. If somebody off in a village can topple the world, it might as well be you. The main obstacle would just be getting the conversations with your agents to work correctly, on top of the general work we'll be doing above. The same applies to fort mode to an extent, once you can send your agents out.
Now it just remains to be seen what we can get done! He he he.
Comments
Miguel Celano
Exactly!!
Ian Hodgetts
"we won't end the game, but we'll make it increasingly interesting for you" *broad grin*
Incredible! I’m so excited for this content!
