The idea here is that committing crimes (ie. attacking villagers, etc.) can cause you to gain renown as a murderer, or, with new updates allowing NPCs to distinguish theft, a thief, perhaps with no distinction between them. As the renown goes up, perhaps some NPCs will recognize you and either run or attack instantly depending on the type of NPC. As you commit more crimes, the dialogue will change until you are recognized almost everywhere as a criminal. Ascending the wanted list to new tiers would increase the amount of times being ambushed in space (with the new updates introducing such things) with slightly less space-pirates and more galactic law enforcement. (Cough cough Novakid cough) As the renown increased, perhaps certain books could begin to be found about you, inserting your name in places, with more renown unlocking chances of higher-numbered books spawning. The books would generally describe survivor's (wait, I'm getting to that) accounts, horrible things you have done, (possibly probably including lies) and other things of that nature. Other ideas include gaining a reputation for killing a certain race and being exempted from "the law" with certain races, ie. Killing Florans and allying with Hylotls. Now, when your renown reaches enormous levels, perhaps you can be contacted (indirectly of course) by Big Ape/The Miniknog or others of his nature. (Thornwing, Greenfinger) Maybe they all bid for your alliance (separated by time and decided at random of course) and you can choose to ally with one and advance a diabolical plot. Say, they give you coordinates and going to said coordinates causes a special structure to spawn. You'd never actually be meeting them in person, but there's a lot of potential for plot and character development through these sub-plots. Maybe they're luring you into a trap, maybe they start having you run trivial errands, each character has much room for growth, and the introduction of this system would allow for even more characters, perhaps a law-enforcer who thinks of you as a nemesis should the devs so choose. Perhaps custom wanted posters could be introduced showing your face icon at the time of the crime. (with the spot it generates in being blank or filled with a fictional characters if you have no renown) Sure, having that many different wanted posters would be a tad frivolous, which is why it can be done with one item type. Using the same wanted poster for all faces, allowing you to select from online players in multiplayer and automatically selecting the player's face in single player. Perhaps just the latter until the former would be properly applied if the former is difficult. Now, what I was saying about the survivors-well, I'm sure many wouldn't enjoy accidentally killing someone and gaining a reputation they don't want, or even if they did it on purpose, but didn't want to contend with the negative effects a criminal renown presents. To fix this, it'd be simple; Dead men tell no tales. The rule would be that either on beaming up to your ship, Not being on the planet for a certain amount of time or leaving a planet is only when renown is applied, calculating based on living NPCs that have been "triggered" on you. This includes all the citizens who run when you kill someone, all the soldiers who attack when you attack someone, but not certain enemies, (ie. The glitch castle citizens and Avian sacrifices in sacrificial towers) and not NPCs who have not been triggered on you. (For example, NPCs that don't see you, have never attempted to attack you, or have not run off screaming. Other ways to lower renown could be simply waiting, removing wanted posters of yourself, etc. The parallel/opposite of this is possible, but this is not that suggestion. Thoughts?
The latter part seems hard to implement, but I like the idea of gaining a "reputation", which will perhaps make people think twice before murdering entire villages and such. It's really something I wish to see in the future of this game, a universe that's alive and breathing, NPC factions that venture from planet to planet, have their home bases, perhaps NPCs that can even build pre-defined schematics, making colonies on planets they decide to visit. It would require a lot of effort to get something like that working without strains though, but I know some older games that did this too to some extent.
This is a neat idea, and offers extra gameplay or immersion to the world. It's also an unfortunate timesink, but that could be good or bad! I think one concept that could be very neat is that your reputation is different for each sector. If you're in the Alpha sector and all the Hylotl dislike you even more than the Floran, maybe the Hylotl in the beta sector haven't yet heard of you and you can switch sides? This would be one way of allowing access to "enemy" towns without requiring faction-grinding, and wouldn't close off content to players simply because they tried to defend a village against a bird and the guards attacked them.
i dont care about sourcing it, you put it way better than i did. thanks. i have a few more ideas if you wanna ryikify them too.. like a mode where you start out without a ship and have to build up to one, i mean build everything from the wires to the launch station to the docking/launch pad.. the fuel. everything.. would be awesome. Would also give computers and labs a new purpose aside from being decorative objects only. i know some comps already activate switches do why not?
I think it is a great Idea, but the AI needs to be more discriminate before it is put in to place. For instance, guards attacking simply because you are walking by would automatically gain you a criminal record. I had the misfortune of being attacked on sight by the apex at a lab, the glitch at a castle, and the Florian at a prison. All because they were in the way of me exploring the planet or because I saw an interesting place I wanted to explore. Your system would label me a criminal even though I never shot first.
I feel as if this would impede on your ability to explore. It's like you want to visit a village and explore the place, but then you're instantly limited since the guys and guards in the village start attacking you. I got to admit, I like the concept, but this particular idea could get annoying and hurt the gaming experience.
Technically, you've run afoul of the intergalactic "Breaking And Entering" laws, so yes, you are a criminal. You're also doing home invasion and you're carrying an unlicensed pickaxe that doesn't even meet the planetary regulations.
it's a great starting point, intergalactic wanted bulletin, space chasing, bounty hunters etc. would be nice theme to explore and develop
I never thought of breaking and entering laws, but maybe they should lock their doors in future versions. The small individual homes did not seem to mind the intrusion, and surely the Florian prison had visiting hours. I did not mention having a pickaxe, and I am not sure why it would have to be licensed. Another potential way to solve the issue of planet exploration being blocked by a massive structure may be to have a second background or foreground layer which cannot be built on or NPC interacted with so that the player could simulate going around the building. It would be relatively easy to show the difference in a player on the regular layer and behind the background. I think the hardest part would be if the entrances are at different levels on the surface of the planet. It may also need to be blocked from use for going around mountains; that may make the exploration of a planet too easy.
