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Author Topic: Encountering visitors from a civ should add them to the local civ list  (Read 1030 times)

Flarp

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Pretty much as title. It's possible to found a fort near enough to a human/elf/other dwarf civ that you don't get trade caravans but do get visitors. This doesn't make them show up in the [c]-civilizations menu, but arguably should.
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Re: Encountering visitors from a civ should add them to the local civ list
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2016, 09:39:38 pm »

I don't think you necessarily get your visitors from nearby civilizations. If you have a nearby human civ and get a visitor from a farther-away human civ, what would your suggestion be?
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Shonai_Dweller

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Re: Encountering visitors from a civ should add them to the local civ list
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2016, 10:29:15 pm »

Ideally a visitor from a far away civ would have their civ name added to the list, then information would expand as they tell stories in the tavern.

Unless they were a bandit/criminal/slave who wanted to conceal their origins.

But what if a vampire had a fake background about being from a different civ?Should you gain information from having them in the fortress? Or gain fake information??
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LMeire

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Re: Encountering visitors from a civ should add them to the local civ list
« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2016, 11:11:14 pm »

I like it. Maybe the intelligence on the civ-screen could have information grouped by which visitors said what and how old the claim is. Then it could also be linked to diplomats/liaisons so there's a small amount of cultural history available to the player without having to switch out to Legends mode. So you'd have small paragraphs like "According to Goblin McHumanciv: The human city Capital was sacked by Elvenciv 3 months ago. The Law-Giver Kingy Lordsomebody took the throne 3 months ago." and then you could out liars like bandits, spies, and night-creatures by cross-referencing their information against what everyone else has been saying about a region.
« Last Edit: January 14, 2016, 11:14:57 pm by LMeire »
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Trappington

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Re: Encountering visitors from a civ should add them to the local civ list
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2016, 01:11:09 pm »

This is a very interesting suggestion.  Maybe it could also be made so that once a civ learns enough about you and your wealth (from visitors from that civ coming and going) they will send a small caravan.  This caravan could come every couple of years based on how far away the civ is, and potentially could get bigger as they become greedy for the great riches of the dwarves.  This might help increase one's ability to import goods, if wagon and pack animal loads are made realistic again.
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Flarp

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Re: Encountering visitors from a civ should add them to the local civ list
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2016, 05:14:22 pm »

Don't get me wrong, I would totally support a more nuanced civ screen with historical info, but as I understand it, there's just a single bit for each civ right now that determines whether it shows up. Normally, that only gets flipped the first time a caravan, thief, or ambush/siege arrives (hence why goblin/kobold civs can show up at all).

I just think getting a visitor from a civ should flag that civ as "encountered". If seeing a goblin lasher is enough to know who the leader of his civ is, a human bard should be able to provide the same info.

That's a far smaller-scale change (I think) than, say, allowing the civ screen to be gradually updated with historical events (which would require some substantial recoding, I imagine).

I don't think you necessarily get your visitors from nearby civilizations. If you have a nearby human civ and get a visitor from a farther-away human civ, what would your suggestion be?

So, to clarify: if you've already got a trading relationship and civ screen entry with the Nation of Leagues or whatever (human civ A), and then you get a bard visitor from the Alliances of Uniting (human civ B), you should get an identically-descriptive civ screen entry for them. Obviously, the export/import totals would be 0 (unless you could somehow account for scholars/bards bringing codicies/instruments or taking them with them when they leave), or there could be some flavor text, like with goblins and kobolds.

But what if a vampire had a fake background about being from a different civ?Should you gain information from having them in the fortress? Or gain fake information??

I didn't know vampires could fake their civ of origin. That seems unlikely, because there are usually common aspects of appearance within civs (a vampire from a red-haired, dark-skinned civ would have a hard time pretending to be from a yellow-haired, fair-skinned civ, but from the player's perspective that would be hard to notice). I suppose if this is the case, they should provide a civ screen entry for their fake civ, to avoid giving themselves away.

They wouldn't need to give fake information, the only real non-economic info in the civ screen is a list of nobles and leaders; a vampire creating his or her backstory could easily "research" that info.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2016, 05:26:06 pm by Flarp »
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He views any show of emotion as offensive, sees introspection as important, values self-control, and strongly believes that a peaceful and ordered society without dissent would be best. He believes that mastery of a skill is one of the highest pursuits, values nature, and finds romance distasteful. He holds well-laid plans and shrewd deceptions in the highest regard.