NPC Combat Sets

[Shadow Reaper]

Pick it up at time index 4:10 here:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPa8KIgSh3Y


Note the distinction between trained and untrained NPCs. Very cool. Now here's the question: can you train NPCs? Can you pick up a ten year contract on a less trained NPC and then train them so they're more useful in FPS combat, in a turret, in a covert spy op? What are the various NPC "sets"?

 

[maynard]

AFAIK NPCs you hire will get better with experience

however, you will have to pay their salaries whether working or idle

we don't know if it will be cheaper to train your own or pay more to hire skilled NPCs short-term

sort of like horses vs motorcycles

 

[BUTUZ]

I've been working my NPC maids quite hard recently but they don't seem to be getting any better at cleaning!

I suppose it is an alpha after all..

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Well they're French maids, in those cute little black skirts, but it seems an open question whether they're actually intended for cleaning.

What they hoped for was this:

and instead they got this:

 

[MikeNificent]

There is a simplified version of how I hope this will work in the game Mount & Blade:

You recruit lowest level npc for $x initial and $y per week.

Every battle he survives, he gains xp. As he becomes more experienced, he gets better gear, does his job better, and costs you more. Eventually he caps out at the "highest" level of proficiency and cost.

Initially, your lowbie NPCs die a lot. This decreases with level, such that out of say 10 recruits, you will end up with 1 max level npc.

Or, if you have $$ but no time, you can just go hire high level npcs from the taverns. These are considered mercenaries, and cost more to maintain than an npc you trained yourself, but not prohibitively so.

To me it seems simple, rewarding, and effective, which means CIG will probably never use it, and instead opt to design something more resource intensive