Newbie's Building Damage Notification + Bird Race Idea

[Hugsterman]

PREMATURE TLDR; So this ended up being way longer than I thought. Notifications when your buildings or people would be nice, I personally think that a birdlike playable race would be cool but I am aware not everyone would share that opinion or if it's even feasible.

I picked up the game a few days ago and I have to say I am enjoying the hell out of it, made a man with a dog, got into some adventures and now I have an outpost producing rum and Catan level weaponry. Funny how life goes.

I have two things I want to put out there, one a small quality-of-life thing but the other is an idea for a new race. I just want to say that I do not know if there is even room for another race in the game world and that this likely won't really start something. It's literally just a "what if" suggestion. If people like it, sweet, but if not then fair enough, its an idea I had that I thought was neat but I doubt everyone will think so.

ANYWAY.

Quality-of-life thing: Notification for when one of your buildings or people are being attacked.

Not sure if this is planned or suggested already, I searched for it but didn't see it so if it is my bad. Reason for suggestion is that I had my main group of badasses escorting a caravan of goods away from base and it was set upon by swamp raptors. Now the reason I left the base relatively undefended is because I had literally not had a single attack take place from either wildlife or bandits so I thought it would be good. Low and behold, while my focus was on getting my bulls to town safely some sneaky raptors found their way to my lonely hamlet, smelling the delicious rice, hemp and cactus I was preparing for my various wares and foodstuffs. Revealing themselves to be far more ferocious than any man, machine or hive could imagine they chewed threw my iron gate with their jaws of adamantium before assaulting my townsfolk, laying several of the down into the dirt before devouring the fruits of my labor and sauntering off, their cruel job well done. I learned from this, rebuilt from the savage raptor invasion and now have a set of always manned harpoon guns by my gate, always ready should the swampy menace ever return.

So anyway, the majority of this happened when I was focused on my caravan. I admit that I get tunnel visioned and I probably should have done a better job of splitting my attention between the town and the caravan, but I feel like there are probably times when you need to focus on something outside your town and would be completely unaware if something goes down like I was while your villagers are running in terror from the waddling wastrels. Just a thought.

Now that that wall of text is over, lets see if I can make an even bigger one.

BIRD PEOPLE: Again, this is just a "I THINK THIS IS COOL" idea.

The idea behind the bird people is that they are fairly bestial and feral. They're fairly primitive when it comes to technology, not because of any lack of intelligence but more of how their culture has developed. They're very spiritual, believing that when a creature dies the energy that makes up it' soul returns to the earth to be used in the creaton of another. Not quite reincarnation. Shamans are held in high regard, not exactly leaders but definitely individuals with power. They perform rites for various purposes, some legitimately practical while others are purely spiritual.

Their towns are few, used largely as hubs where groups of them can gather and trade, mingle with kin from other groups before heading out again. Outsiders are allowed, but are viewed with mistrust. Larger, more important rites take place in their towns, like the christening of a new shaman or the joining of two clans or the creation of a new one.

Outside of their towns, the birds hunt and scavange, living off of the land as best they can. There are some individuals who become smiths and craftsmen, but they usually end up residing in towns and are viewed pitiably on by others of their kind, understanding their necessity but mournful of their craftsmen's inability to wander the world.

When it comes to fighting the birds give it their all, doing whatever it takes to win, or at the very least survive. However, after the fight the birds hold a rite over the bodies of the fallen, both friend and foe, sanctifying their soul's return to the earth. It involves opening the eyes and mouth of the fallen and making light scratches on the mouth/beak so that the soul can leave the body with ease. They do this to the bodies of those they find on the road as well.

The birds don't usually have much interaction with outsiders beyond the occasional trader or the much more often bandit attack, so their views on outsiders is weary at best. They will trade with strangers, but with their talons on the hilts of their weapons. Skeletons are an enigma, however. Beings made of metal, the birds don't know how to react; are they holy because they come directly from the earth or are they they are something else, a perversion of life? whenever a group of birds comes across a skeleton it is sure to cause a stir one way or another.

Birds believe that the fullest life is one that has devoted their lives to achieving something, be it becoming a great warrior, a leader, a healer or an explorer; Vagrants, bandits and criminals are viewed as "wastes of earth". Birds believe that slavery is abhorrent, that keeping an individual from finding their own way is a sin beyond forgiving. Many Bird groups will attack slavers on sight, and would rather fight to the death than be a slave if escape isn't an option.

Bird adventureres that leave their groups either leave because they are shunned for some crime or have aspirations to find something out in the wider world, which isn't taboo but is something most birds are uncomfortable about. A lone bird isn't viewed oddly but if a bird is in the company of outsiders, they will be shown the same wariness as their comrades.

They're about as tall as humans and when it comes to their bodies I imagine something similar to this, mainly the eagle-ish individual second from the right:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/7/7f ... pt_art.jpg
(the art is concept of the tengu from Guild Wars 2, if it's an issue I apologize and will edit it immediatly.)

Some changes from that picture would be larger beaks, get rid of those weird fang things, much leaner, more muted colors. Their feathers have hardened in order to adapt to the harsh environment, providing a sort of natural armor. They have talons on their hands and feet along with a beak, though for balance reasons I am unsure if this would have a role in combat.

Stat wise (keep in mind I don't math so balance is not my thing) I'd imagine that the birds would be fast, cunning creatures. They would have a bonus in dex, perception (when implemented), stealth, survival (when implemented) and athletics. However, due to the fact that many aren't craftsmen, their hunter gatherer society and general lack of technological knowledge, they also get negatives to farming, weapon and armor smithing, robotics, engineering and science (maybe laboring too, again I don't math).

In addition to this, birds cannot wear shirts, shoes or headwear (if possible I would limit that to full headwear, so things like open faced helmets would be okay as long as it wouldn't rely on covering a human face). To balance this the Bird's feathers give them a form of natural armor, perhaps 15% damage reduction (again, don't math).

That about sums it up and yes, that wall of text is WAY longer. If you've stuck around this far, thank you for reading. Let me know what you think. If you're a dev: Hi, hows it going.

[Hatsune_Neko]

the when you're under attack is already in game
the squad bar icon will flash red and the squad members with get red horizonal lines through them showing they attacking, being attacked.



the only thing that you need to do is watch for it.

[Hugsterman]

I knew about the portraits but I didnt realize that the icon bar would flash red though. Thanks, good to know.

[swillo]

My bar near flashed when in full screen mode, but works in the windowed mode.
Just FYI.