Story Suggestions

[fallen]

grävling - thanks for the report. There is a known issue with the story that you get the dialog which is shown to non-tutorial characters ("You aren't allowed in here.") before you start getting story dialogs. The "after" seems like a typo, since that would be the first reward.

I will take a look at the Weingart as a whole and try to make it a more clear touch-point within the story.

[grävling]

Okay, now that I am as good as done -- well, first of all, thank you very much.

But I have one small complaint -- I think that the tutorial should push 'hiring runners' a good bit more. I never hired any, waiting for the tutorial to prompt me to. As a result the end of game fights were a lot tougher than they would have been If I had a well-trained ally with me. Maybe when you start working for BS, Simon suggests that you spend some time in the BS backrooms to see the superior runners you can get working for a real security force -- as opposed to those jokers that hang out in ganger backrooms?

Otherwise, fantastic job. Thank you both so much.

[fallen]

grävling - thank you for the compliments, they mean to the world to me as I built the story from the ground up. Thanks for all the different types of feedback you have given -- I have a giant list from you and others to work through. Pushing Runners is getting lodged just below "bugs" in the list and will be featured in future updates!

Thank you!

[grävling]

Okay, second time running through the tutorial.

suggestion.

Instead of having MadeNotBorn say have a button that says: "I am ready for some combat training" to initiate this phase how about one that says: "This is boring! How about that combat training I was promised?"

Same effect, but does more to establish MnB's tendancy to want to rush into everything. It also is slightly more deferential. MnB isn't really in a position to judge that he is ready for combat training or anything else. He's just bored.

Also, you might want to delay the appearance of that button. So far I haven't had a single one of the promised pick-up-and-deliver missions. All Fredric has today seems to be message delivery .... actually, having this button do something along the lines of:
'Patience....patience! We will deternine when you are ready for combat training!' for a bit would be even better ....

[fallen]

grävling - change the dialog from MnB. The only thing I worry about moving the combat training later is that you are likely to have been in combats before then, and you might have to run easily twice as many jobs before you meet Mallor and chase Whitey. Thoughts?

Is that too long? Wouldn't you start getting bored?

[grävling]

Jan 14, 2013 0:15:30 GMT -5 fallen said:

grävling - change the dialog from MnB. The only thing I worry about moving the combat training later is that you are likely to have been in combats before then, and you might have to run easily twice as many jobs before you meet Mallor and chase Whitey. Thoughts?

Is that too long? Wouldn't you start getting bored?

Cory is talking about chaning the message delivery jobs to be worth 25 yen a shot, by hard coding the number into the tutorial. This will fit better with the dialog. But it will mean that you need to run more missions if you want to have better armour or a better weapon before you go off hunting Whitey. so I don't think making the combat a little later is such a bad idea. And a little bit -- not a lot, mind you -- but a little bit of 'this is getting boring' helps make you identify with the character. He is getting bored and wanting more interesting work, at least more well-paying work -- well, so are you, a bit.

Clearly one could overdo this, but I think a small delay would only improve things.

[Cory Trese]

Maybe 25 is too low. I've had several 200 and 160 missions early in the tutorial that just seem way overboard.

Maybe it should be in the 40-60 range instead of 25? 25 does seem like it might really slow down the buying of stims and stuff.

[grävling]

I'd have to playtest this to see if the money is too tight at 25. What you hardcode could possibly be linked to the difficulty setting -- that would be a nice touch, I think. Personally, I think that newbies need to train more, not less, so if the money comes too easily they will get bored because they already bought all sorts of new gear and will decide to move out of the tunnels before their stats can support life in the NBZ.

But maybe I am imagining problems that don't exist. Poor old aaronius seems to have managed to make a character whose stats cannot support life in the NBZ despite lots of training.

I think that Mallor True should tell you that you aren't ready for the Whitey Mission until your Athletics is at least 4 and your AP is at least 6 (and tell you how to improve them). Then no vault mission should be undertaken until your AP is at least 7. And get some better armour, kid! That trench coat is for looking cool not stopping bullets!

[grävling]

I think that after you get the info from KB that it is time to go across the wall, KB should back out of his contract and refuse to go there. You don't need him any more, and you are about to hit serious conflict. Keeping him alive is tough, and things are tough enough as it is. Keeping him alive cost me a (admittedly, not very well trained) runner.

[grävling]

The small army you get as an opponent at the end of your stays in the tunnels doesn't have any dogs in it. This makes it easier to defeat than the dogs you were getting in the middle of the training -- for me, at any rate. Can the army get some dogs?

[blackgauntlet]

+1 on the Runner. I've yet to get one as I feel that they are cramping my style. So, I would further suggest to force the player to get an ALLY instead of just a runner; an ally built into the story- give him a face, some background, friendly banter along the way like what a good meat-shield sidekick would do.

Possibly in the following scenario:
1) Moxy gets you one of her runner who would introduce you into an establishment that would further your goal.
2) The runner is not willing to enter if he/she is not close enough with the CK yet.
3) Inform player to get more XP for both CK and runner so that they could get to Ally status.
4) When runner becomes Ally, they can proceed with the storyline and, thus, teaching players how to get runners & allies at the same time.
5) If there's a sidekick, it would make the game more interesting as well. Romance? Code an opposite gender runner. Mystery? Code a runner with hidden agenda. Humor? Code a runner based on me. ;D

[grävling]

Mallor says that your new computer must cost upwards of 10,000 credits. Actually the NV2 TactCPU -- what you have -- costs 3575. There really aren't any 2 job computers that cost around 10K.

The Mars Corp BattleTac is closest -- it costs 7375 in the store. It has a rating of 2 where the NV2 has a rating of 1. Next in price is the Calcutek Quantum DX4. It has a rating of 3, and 500MP (instead of 50MP like the 2 cheaper ones). It also has jobs 2. It costs 18250.

For comparison, the Mars Corp BattleTac Master, which has a rating of 2, 80 MP and 3 jobs costs only 8465.

I don't think that Mallor should provide bad information like this. I suggest that we change the computer you find in the vault to the Mars Corp BattleTac, and have Mallor recognise it (it is Mars tech, after all) and say that it costs more than 7000Y in Mars Corp Stores. All of the other things he says about it work fine with that model of computer.

What do you think?

[grävling]

The new loft that you can rent in the Black Row is very nice. But once you purchase a lease, should the store keep offering to sell you lofts?

(I feel like I am in the middle of Monte Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail.

ARTHUR: Go and tell your master that we have been charged by God
with a sacred quest. If he will give us food and shelter for the
night he can join us in our quest for the Holy Grail.
GUARD: Well, I'll ask him, but I don't think he'll be very keen...
Uh, he's already got one, you see?
ARTHUR: What?
GALAHAD: He says they've already got one!
ARTHUR: Are you sure he's got one?
GUARD: Oh, yes, it's very nice-a [To Other Guards] I told him we already got one.
OTHER GUARDS: [Laughing])

[Ahab]

I'm not sure it is necessary to move training later--at least not Whitey. I have never had any problem defeating Whitey. The last three times, I went after Whitey on the very first day--before even sleeping the first time! (I lied when I told Mercer I had slept ;D) So I had my starting stats, my starting weapon, no armor (I lied when I told Mercer I had bought armor), 4 HP, and 2 MP. In Brutal mode. No problem defeating Whitey at all. It's just a matter of careful useage of Action Points. My Sniper starts with 5 AP, Whitey has 3. It is not hard to let Whitey walk up to you, then step back and shoot him. Repeat until he's dead. Whitey never gets a chance to swing.

I don't expect newbies to be able to do this, of course. But Whitey isn't that hard.

[grävling]

I don't think that Whitey is that hard, either, but if you are just learning how to fight I can see how the dogs in the vault might be.