Seeing that the game is heavily influenced by diplomacy and relations, besides the already awesome in-combat and off-combat mechanics (living and surviving) i feel that Kenshi has a strong future in the world of sandbox RPG.
One thing that i think would be a great addition is further focus on the squad system.
Right now we have different ways to play the game (through Game-Starts), and i think it has been a vital supplement to most of the playerbase in-terms of the actual role-playing aspect, although i think we can improve this more through making one play-though more immersive and involving, like, say being able to hold-on to a single-playthrough without being bored, and here is how i think it would work:
" ＤＹＮＡＳＴＩＥＳ き殴ド "
Now, now.. hold-off, I've read in a couple of other threads that just having kids is a big no-no, and i agree, in a lot of ways, this is too complicated, especially in this modern day age of games where-in there are a lot of petty feelings to consider before putting something in public, just cause it may offend a fraction of players, or sometimes, even out-of-touch media people who had never even touched a game.
But i think there are ways we can go around this problems, let me list a couple of games that had been able to go over the PC eyes. (politically correct)
Taleworlds' Ｍｏｕｎｔ ａｎｄ Ｂｌａｄｅ ｓｅｒｉｅｓ ぅ位こぁ
[ Kids in M&B are invulnerable, but they are there for the immersion and aesthetics ]
Bethesda's Ｅｌｄｅｒ Ｓｃｒｏｌｌｓ Ｓｋｙｒｉｍ 憶ッょ
[ Kids in Skyrim are invulnerable, but they are there for the immersion and aesthetics ]
Paradox Interactive's Ｃｒｕｓａｄｅｒ Ｋｉｎｇｓ ＩＩ ヷ-ブ
[ Crusader Kings did a really good job including children in the game, They literally don't do anything until they're of certain age,
this game will also be the main inspiration for what i am presenting. ]
So how would this "Dynasties" work?
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So, i think first of all making this mode optional would be key, because maybe not everyone would want to play in this kind of mode.
Here's an example:
Michelle starts a play-through of toons that are unrelated, like as Bandits, a drifter gang, band of brothers, wanderers (what we currently have.)
on the other hand, we have
John, who would like to start a play-through of toons that are related, like as a full family, brothers, and sisters ect.
You guys might say "But you can just imagine those things!!!" well you are right, but did i say that we're stopping from here?
Starting as a family can have you dealing with bonuses OR more trouble.
bonuses meaning that, if you are banded with family members, you gain trait bonuses in on or off-combat traits/attributes/abilities, because you will have an "Inspired" Buff. ( or With Kin)
But also, losing family members should give punishment to the player, a debuff, or a new Emotion/Morale that could decline accordingly but can be replenished accordingly.
Now, the fun and more controversial part of this suggestion,
Family, Pregnancy and Child-birth to Childhood and Prepubescence.
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First off, some may say that pregnancy would never work, because game-time is too long
this is arguable, and could be worked-around with easily. (imho)
since we're in a game that is already-kinda-grindy, and the fact that it is just a game, i am sure that we would not need a good 9 months for a female character to be pregnant. Maybe just 2-6 months would be enough and game-relative.
Suggestions that could aide in implementation:
Fighting while being pregnant should reduce a character's efficiency like how it is when you are carrying more weight or when you are literally carrying another person with you. (kidnap or coprse)
Birthing and management of an offspring need not be too tedious and micromanaging,
we could just jump phases,
Infancy > Childhood > Adolescence > Adulthood > Old age and Death.
Infancy = Uncontrollable, literally an item that after a certain age, becomes a character (ticking timebomb concept)
and stays in mother's infant bag/body bag (can't carry any other bag).
OR if you have a settlement, could be placed in an object
container like where you store storage, but this time it is a Crib and you put your Baby in there were a slave would "attend and take care" of it. (works as an incubation, it's an RPG so let's just imagine it further.)
Childhood = now he is an official character, all he can do is follow around and carry basic bags. (like how animals work in-game)
*Meshes for the child stage can be just presets or two for each race, 3-5 mesh variations for hair and we don't need to go full Sims on these. just cosmeticc supplementation can go a loooong way in solidifying a game. CKII does this pretty well and it does not break the game. since this stage is just temporary!
Adolescence = Can be just a sub-sub race thing, whatever race, but they're literally weaker and shorter in aesthetics
*Can be same assets and all but younger texture sets for skin and face-types. also no beards* (no discimination intended, all other games do this!
Adulthood and old age to death, the base game mechanics
Now, i can't just post all the good things, there are Cons as for every ideas ever birthed, and the ones i see are these.
Because basically, all we did is have the characters recognize relations and ages, AI and the whole game world would have to be affected, cause... if we only wish to affect the player squad, it would be a little disappointing to see yourself as the only mortal in the game,
because apparently, everyone else isn't dying from malnutrition and death by another being. so.. i recognize that it would be a hell of a lot of coding to make specific birth-times for the AI-NPC's that run the world of Kenshi.
a few more suggestions regarding this,
- Maybe only a selected group of AI characters would be granted the generation of their off-springs and future heirs to whatever they hold (squads, outposts and what-not.)
- A program that can generate and bring these coded characters to life after their predecessor either dies of old age or combat.
with all that elaborated, i would just like to say that, i think with this, the game can really expand more on how to enrich the player's experience within the world of Kenshi, imagine playing the great-grand-son of your original character, having all the experiences and history in can make for an unforgettable experience.
this request is probably a loooong shot, and im ready to hear all kinds of thoughts, but im also positive to hear out aiding suggestions to empower this concept, if you guys ever think this could be a great and probably, game-changing addition.
Cheers and all the best of luck to you all. Thank you!
