Posted August 05, 2023 by QuentinWH
This is a rather small patch, but it makes one of the less useful and commonly overlooked part of the game viable again.
This version IS COMPATIBLE with prevous version, although there might be some weirdness going on before you skip your first week after updating.
Skill encounters were random NPCs you could find around the world. They had random placement and random specialisation. Talking to these NPCs would give you a skill check. If you passed, you gained one stat point. Failing had no consequence.
The problem was the insane amount of randomness in the entire system. First, there was a random placement, then random NPC type and random skill check difficulty.
This made even finding these NPCs difficult, since they were always at different spot. And when you did find them, they usualy gave you a skill check for skill you didn't bother leveling, so there was no point in interacting with them.
This overhaul addressed all of these problems:
This will not only make these events more useful, but will also make it easier to find them. The way they spawn is simple.
There are two groups. One has about 5 members, the other has about 3. At the start of the game, events from both group with ID of 1 spawn. Next week, this number increases by one so on. Once one of the numbers gets above the maximum, it resets back to 1.
This means that you can predict which NPC is going to spawn next week, but not precisely, since both groups have different maximums and so they start spawning slightly differently as time goes on.
Ofcourse, I have more plans for these events, but these will have to wait untill I expand other parts of the game.
Other changes
Next smaller addition are the shrines. These are not final, since the faction system is not yet in the game. The way they work is simple.
Once a week, you can pray at a shrine. You can pay 10 or 50 silver. You will gain a little bonus depending on the amount you pay and the shrine type. One shrine will increase your mood, one will incrase your wellness and one will increase your morality.
These shrines will work differently once I release the faction system. The core will be the same. You will still get stat bonuses for praying, but there will be more steps involved and the rewards will differ depending on your rank.
Next, I did some changes to "resting". Resting in your tent no longer costs food, but you also get no mood bonuses and no healing (Upgraded hideout will give you a small mood boost). Resting is meant to be used to skip time if you have nothing else to do, or you ran out of food. This is also a preparation for future update, where your job / training success chance will be affected by your health.
To even things out a bit, you now recover about 20% of your total health every week, so if you are left with 1 HP, you will fully recover in about 5 weeks. Doesn't matter if you work, train or rest.
And that's pretty much it. Next update will hopefuly be the faction system and church faction expansion. If you find any bugs, report them here or in the bug section in the forum. If you have any questions or ideas, don't be afraid to ask.
Full changelog: