Be a mercenary.

[Vandala]

There are tons of mercenaries in this game, you can hire them in almost any town in the game, but it seems you can't actually be a mercenary yourself, seems rather odd right?

Maybe the developer could add some merchant npc's to the bar or make a new merchant building that has merchant npc's that occasionally travel between towns and are willing to hire the player as a mercenary group to protect them on there travels.

Or maybe add military npc's that can hire the player as extra man power for their patrols.

This will probably just turn out as a bunch of escort "quests", not sure if that is all that satisfying to play, but it would be an alternative for making money and you'd get to travel at the same time.

[DanielCoffey]

How would you ensure the player actually did the work required apart from paying only at the end of the time period or journey?

[Vandala]

How would you ensure the player actually did the work required apart from paying only at the end of the time period or journey?

No idea, so I guess the player will be payed at the end of the journey.

I guess it might be possible to add a bounty to the player characters involved if they decide to run with the money if you really want the player to be payed up front, not that anything but a permanent bounty is much of a discouragement.

Not that one more loophole is gonna break the game though, seeing all the ones we already have. XD

[rerutnev]

Delivery job might be doable. One can trigger AI_goals through dialogue, right?

If indeed possible, then it seems fairly simple to have 'the package' follow you from a certain town bar to another town bar where 'the target' will check the world state "the package is alive 1", give X number of cats and the said 'package' will stop following you. (Then even expand and randomize the 'to' and 'from' list to make it more lively.)

You know, akin to Morrowind, where you can take you 'temporary' allies you are meant to escort to a specific location across the whole game.

[philthymcnasty]

There is a mod on steam now, where you can do escort missions. This mod does a check to see if you are near the trader.

so For merc contracts, it would be similar: check to make sure you have people in the area, a check to make sure the people that need to be protected are still alive and have their limbs, another check to see if there are any bandits left in the mission area, or for rescue missions bringing back the target safely.

Basically, if a modder has done this, then it should be feasible...

We were supposed to have missions and jobs for alternative work in this game, but this fell by the wayside. I would also love to see supply contracts: you get a better payout to provide x amount of trade goods to a merchant.

[Berzerker Jay]

I can see it working in a couple instances:

- Caravan leader hires you to escort them to a destination. You get paid at the destination. If you're not there, or they don't make it, you don't get paid. Maybe you could also lose reputation somehow.

- A small town or village or farm hires you for protection. If you leave the area you are penalized. If the assigned characters don't remain for the entire duration then they don't get the pay at the end of the term. I could see this being good early-game work in Holy Farms protecting the crops against River Raptors, for example.

[swillo]

I actually do this with the current system. I follow a trader and join in the fight then sell the bandits equipment to the trader. Same as a if he really hired me.

Same with the farms. wait around kill the raptors and sell their skins to the farmer as a bounty.

Sure it would be great to have some dialogue that made it more immersive, but I can get the same game play either way.

[Berzerker Jay]

Okay...so you loot the corpses of the attackers on the caravan -- but why shouldn't you be able to do this on top of being hired as a merc? You should be able to work as a merc AND sell the loot. That would be reasonable -- it's far too gamey to compromise as if trading the loot to the trader is equivalent.

Immersion matters in this game, I believe -- it's what I love so much about it.

[swillo]

But if you were working as a merc you wouldn't get to sell the loot, that would be the property of the one who hired you. Just being the DA.

[Berzerker Jay]

Why would the loot be the property of the person who hired you? What's the logic behind this unspoken part of the contract?

[swillo]

Your working for them. They bought you. You do as they say. You get paid by them, therefore if there is money to be had they are paying you to get it for them. Just like your real job. You don't get paid to make cars for yourself to sell. The company owns everything you make and they sell it for money. if you take something and sell it for yourself that is called theft. If they put in that you could be a mercenary then they should also add that the one who pays you gets the booty for the term of your employment. And if they catch you taking something it would mean your employment is instantly terminated and they attack you as a thief.
or they could have a contract clause where you get paid by the amount of loot you acquire. Oh wait then you don't need to be hired you just follow them.
Again just being the DA.

[Berzerker Jay]

I don't hire mercenaries so often, but as far as I know you don't end up owning them in any way at all.

So if I'm understanding this correctly, the idea is that not only should your compensation for mercenary-work be exclusively in the form of loot from the fallen enemies you manage to loot, AND that by acting as a mercenary you are the equivalent of a slave, property of your employer?

I somehow don't think this enriches the game or its potential for storytelling. It seems to actually diminish both.