Build your own Skeletons + Quest = Awesome

[Radon18]

Ok so I've been playing this game for a while now and I know you guys are focusing on getting the game map (which is utterly massive and glorious) up to snuff but I had an idea for a feature and a quest that would add some much needed awesome to Kenshi.

So the post multiple apocalyptic world is dotted with lots of ancient science labs and workshops but in terms of game play they serve as short but difficult (for low level characters with low numbers) dungeons. The problem with this is you would really expect something like an ancient science lab from an ancient precursor civilization to have strange artifacts and knowledge oozing out of the walls which is conspicuously absent from most of these dungeons. (The Reprogramming Lab was a great addition that had me nearly shitting my pants when the horde of lobotomized skeletons decided I was their new bestest friend in the whole world.)

This is where the quest begins.

So in scavenging one of the lesser ruins like a library you come across literature describing the use and merits of centralized AI manager systems. The article explains that widespread use of networked computerized machinery with an AI manager can perform far better than human operated systems. The old empire obviously used this kind of system at a large scale for their biggest facilities but the article would describe the location of a lab which was experimenting with using the same system at smaller scales.

This being Kenshi you can decide to visit the lab or just chuck the paper cause 'meh it's not worth the inventory space' but if you decide to go you are met with a longer than usual dungeon built underground or something and at the end you find an active AI core with a personality that has been operating the facility since the fall of the empire but has never been able to leave due to both it's sedentary nature and programming shackles.

It asks you to take it from the facility and install it into a small structure. (which it gives you the plans for)

When you have it at your base it provides some sort of of global bonus. I like the idea of increased efficiency of material usage in crafting but it could be whatever. It also provides tidbits of knowledge and insight into the old empire a bit like Burn does. Eventually after working with you for a while the AI starts giving you small quests of it's own. (Probably fetch quests to other ancient ruins.)

At some point along the way it should become obvious to the player that if the holy empire found out about the AI and the things you're doing for it that it would result in the up jumped church boys being very cross with you. I'm of the opinion that you should come into contact with some inquisitors over the course of these quests and be forced to kill them or go through great pains sneaking around in order to actually complete the quests without their knowledge. Ya'know for them good ol' consequences RPG lovers like so much.

Eventually after getting the AI all the stuff it wants it gives you another schematic for a crafting bench that allows you to build (through great effort) things like Skeletons, Iron/Security Spiders, and whatever other kinds of automation they decide to put into the game.

I have a list of additional features that could be unlocked through this quest that would make completing it very attractive to players.
Including:

Drones that can be used to automate the delivery of goods to and from crafting benches.

Fully automatic crafting benches.

Perhaps the automated ore mines could also be behind this quest wall?

Modules that you can give to iron spiders to make them the game's equivalent to a semi truck with a huge storage space, a platform that has a single harpoon launcher that has to be manned (may or may not be possible within the limits of the current game engine), and one that boosts their melee abilities.

So what do you guys think? Awesome, not possible, or just plain stupid?
Any further refinements or suggestions are welcome.

[Hatsune_Neko]

this has been brought up before actually. here and on steam.

the one problem is the game will not have tradition quests. and there is no system in place to build skeletons.
though a good idea it's not currently possible.
there is also lore to factor in as well. with skeletons themselves saying the ability to make them is no longer possible as a lost knowledge.

[Radon18]

Well it was more of an idea for the future anyway. And as for the not possible part, what element were you referring to?

The game currently has no quest system but that's gotta be on the list eventually right? Cant really have quests without some way of keeping track of them after all.

As for the making new Skeletons bit, the game engine makes new NPCs all the time, you'd just need a script to spawn one whenever you fulfilled a set of criteria.
The Lore thing was the whole point behind the quest in the first place, to explain how you'd gain access to more advanced technology than the rest of the world has had for a while.

The extra stuff was mostly just optional things but even most of that was simply reallocation of the systems currently present in the game.

[Hatsune_Neko]

there are no plans to add quests
instead the Dev is adding a jobs board, it will be the replacement of a traditional quest system.

as for the spawning, yes that is in game but there is no way to make a NPC spawn where you are. that part isn't in game. least that i know of.

but i was gonna add some more info but i had to get my dinner dishes done first. darn RL duties and stuff >.<

of the limb replacement system that the Dev has planned. i would say that would be the better choice for making skeletons by slowly replacing every single part of an organic. but right now that system isn't in game either so it's not currently possible.

but it would be more possible i believe. once we have the system in game.

[Radon18]

Hmm well that's an odd choice. I mean it works for most things but what about stuff like the things various NPCs ask you to do when you recruit them? There's that ex-paladin guy who wants to go on some holy quest, a guy who wants to save his wife from slavers lots of things that sound like they were/are going to be the beginning of a quest line.

As for npc spawning, I fail to see why that would be a challenge at all. Have you seen the kind of stuff people have done with just the editor? You can recruit defeated enemies now by context sensitive dialog it's pretty amazing. Merely spawning an NPC on command should be a really trivial thing.

Are you serious about the cybernetics turning into a skeleton thing? That makes almost no sense. First of all, Lore wise why if you can replace someone's bits till they are completely machine couldn't you just attach the replacement parts together to build a skeleton? Mechanic wise, it seems like a massive amount of trouble to go through just to get more skeletons.

[Shidan]

Spawning NPCs like that is completely impossible, the FCS is very limited by what the devs make available to us. Dialog? The system is quite extensive, and can be used to do a lot of things. Spawning? It simply isn't possible in the current systems. Now, there is a system that currently does not function, but may be worked on further in the future. It could be used to spawn the spiders (couldn't be used for the humanoid spawns though). But again, this doesn't currently work.

This would be mod content though. The devs seem to have decided that from a lore perspective the technology for building robots is lost. i'd be very surprised if they ever added anything in that direction. I think it would be a great mod though, as this is highly requested.

[Hatsune_Neko]

it's more as to go with what's possible in the FCS as Shidan pointed out as well.
and we know the Dev wants to add body replacement parts. so i gathered together the idea of using a system that's more likely to be able to do the Mod in the way you asked. once we get the options.

and Shidan is the Master at kenshi Lore.

[Radon18]

Right, perhaps a mod would be the better way to go here. Though sadly would need to be pitched to someone else as I don't have the time.

One final question.
Do you know if anything more is planned to make the labs and ruins more interesting? Cause as they stand there are precious few worth visiting.

[Hatsune_Neko]

not sure
but there is a jobs board planned. the Devs version of a quest system. but you wouldn't need to do any of the jobs if you so desired.

[Koomatzu]

Just thought I should jump in and clarify that a jobs board is actually not likely to make it into final release:

http://www.lofigames.com/phpBB3/viewtop ... 3cc0975d95

[bk3000]

Just thought I should jump in and clarify that a jobs board is actually not likely to make it into final release:

http://www.lofigames.com/phpBB3/viewtop ... 3cc0975d95

Possibly some previous goals - now cut - might make it in later? I mean after the game is no longer in early access. I suppose that depends on sales after "release." I've seen some people mention that they wanted to wait on this game til release, and have seen plenty of people apprehensive about Early Access in general (sometimes for good reason).

If you get enough post-release sales to justify it, you might consider working on Kenshi a bit longer. It obviously looks good to have post-release updates, which in turn can push some people off the fence into buying... not that I'd know the ballpark figure on that. The Steam Store page has a section for recently updated games too, so that might add exposure.

Of course I get that it may or may not make much business sense to do those other things after release and you certainly can't promise them. Just something to look at, and see how it goes when the game leaves Early Access.

[DattMuffinMan]

To address the OP and first post, why not make it so you can replace the AI core's of the "broken" skeletons and recruit them to your side. This would require the skeleton being incapacitated, and or locked up whether in a cage or operating table. Then finally someone highly skilled in robotics, with there being a chance of failure and losing both the skeleton and the AI core.

Just a thought.

[Hatsune_Neko]

mostly because doing so is not in the game.
and to my knowledge the Dev does not plan to add the options to build our own. least in this version of kenshi.