we can already make friends with npc's, well, more with an entire town at once, but ye.
there are also woodsmen, hunters and adventurers, some we even resque.
how about, if the player spends some time at one of his cabins, that location gets marked as "home".
use rng to calculate the chance of it happening (keep in mind weather and season) and make npc's decide to come and visit you, if you live close enough.
them just showing up, staying for a while and then leaving again, maybe even giving a small gift. not all to often, not all to far. but it would be a nice break from the continued work.
in addition, the adventurers you can save by escorting them to towns, how about if you escort them to your homestead, they stick around for a as long as you treat them right, making the place their home location, make a handfull of special beds the player can build to mark their sleep location, this leaves the player free to manage the settlement as they see fit. of course a limit has to be in place, but a handfull of bro's isn't all that bad, right?
task one to look after the animals, another one to keep the pile of firewood/branches big, another one to keep the fire burning, manage your settlement as chief. give each npc 3 possible tasks, primary, secondary, third. first do the primary, then the secondary, then the third. and place a meeting marker to (village table) that makes them gather in your hall/courtyard when they have spare time.
when they need a tool, they should check wich tool is on the property and fits their needs best, pick up that tool and remember where they got it, so they bring it back. give them a "responsibility", not a specific command. eg: "you maintain the buildings" making them repair the structures you have, or "you are in charge of the milking", making them milk all the animals. have a "milk barrel" that they use to fill and that other npc's can use to drink from. or "gather firewood here", setting an amount, making that npc gather firewood untill that amount it set.
so, given the 3 tasks and priorities, ukko, the lost kaumo tribesman, first sets out to milk all the animals, then gathers firewood untill the pile is restocked, then proceeds to harvest the crops. meanwhile, rurik, the lost kaumo adventurer gets up in the morning, tans any furs/leather that remains to be tanned, then empties the fishing nets and places them back, dumps the fish into the cellar and finishes up helping with the harvest.
of course, they'd also need equipment, the player should be expected to clothe them, ensure there is plenty of food, and preferably even arm them, should the player fail to do this, the npc's should decide to bugger off. and seeing as the equipment already given is a gift, you lose that. so you better keep your bro's happy and fed. certain tasks such as planting and hunting (things that require planning and complex decicions) should be left to the player, the npc's simply take over the simple but time consuming tasks.
this way the small repetetive tasks can be distributed, keeping the fire going, keeping the firewood up, buildings repaired, skins tanned, etc.
combine it with the upcomming animal husbandry and structure decay, and more jobs to keep rich players busy, it would at some point even be needed to have a helping hand around just to finish up all the work, and such a large homestead sure is a lot of work irl. it would keep the late-game intresting, as slacking off for to long could lead to starvation and the collapse of your settlement.
i can already dream of it, a large meadhall, a few houses, a farm field, some pastures. a living settlement! people working by day, and drinking by night!
Topic: friends and their benefits. (Read 6071 times)