COMMUNITY - FORUMS - GENERAL DISCUSSION
The Value of NPCs

So I know it's a very subjective question but what is the value of an NPC in relation to the different pledge packages?

Currently got a gentry package and really I feel that NPCs would be basically akin to vendors, quest givers and objectives.

But once you get into the nobility and aristocracy their value goes up more since getting more NPCs to join your settlement will help you build and expand the settlement.

At the same time, with the size of Elyria and the size of dutchies/counties/kingdom I expect kings and queens to know specifically just the community leaders with the general population going rather unknown to them.

Thinking on it, really the only benefit I see from NPCs that spans across pledge packages is that since they don't have to "log off" they could argueably contribute more to a community than the players could die to time.

So I guess part 2 of my question is do you think a community of NPCs would be able to compete with at least the average player community?


UDL

7/21/2017 5:03:16 AM #1

From the feeling that SBS tried to convey us so far, i'd say that NPCs are supposed not only to be able to compete with the average player community but also to contest them.

The SBS team have several times now in the live Q&A said that not only NPCs will be tough competitors but that they will also coup and challenge us.

Now will the actual NPCs live up to that goal is yet to be tested.


7/21/2017 5:18:14 AM #2

I'm with Markof, About NPCS, Think about it:

The epicness of making a settlement and having npcs join you is amazing. They will litteraly immigrate from one place to another and they have NEEDS


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7/21/2017 7:24:51 AM #3

I really hope so being on APAC. I would rather them be challenging. Where you have to really plan out how to be better over other games that doesn't take much to out smart them.


7/21/2017 8:00:17 AM #4

I think the real value of npc's will be that they are far more comfortable doing the more mundane tasks then human players. Sure some people might feel like treating this like farm simulator and just living a normal life growing crops, but most of us probably want more out of the game then that.

While were on the topic a thought just crossed my mind. If npc's sleep 8 hours a night and our opc's don't then they really wouldn't be able to compete with us simply do to the extra time we would have over them. I don't think SBS has really talked about this but i assume npcs will need to sleep, but our characters will probably only need to sit down a bit to regenerate stamina faster.


7/21/2017 9:11:29 AM #5

Most of the time you won't be able to differentiate NPC or PC at a glance.


7/21/2017 9:28:33 AM #6

NPC's don't respawn. Players do.

If you kill an NPC, thats it for them, they won't spirit walk and return to their jobs, so therefore NPC's only have value if they are doing jobs no one cares about, and if there out number the players by a large margin.

Basically NPC's are a slave race.

You can also genocide entire settlements of NPC's if you really wanted to... hell if you find a new tribe and your have a committed group, you could attempt to wipe out an entire tribe before players even realise that they can join those tribes... you could eliminate a huge chunk of them at the very least.


7/21/2017 10:03:16 AM #7

Then they will react to you, they do play the dance as well.


7/21/2017 10:14:18 AM #8

I once heard SBS talk about NPC's getting to respawn a few times outside of a staged battlefields so that griefing people by murdering all the NPC's in their settlement/Region will not result in a ruined economy.

I don't know if that has changed at all, since it has been a while.

As for can NPC communities compete with Players? No, probably not as far as PVP combat goes as AI will always have a limit for that unless you make them able to parry like a god. They do have the advantage of being active 24 hours a day every day though. I view NPC's as a resource, I feel manpower will always be the most important resource in Chronicles of Elyria.


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7/21/2017 10:39:52 AM #9

The NPCs have something many players don't - discipline - that is crucial for staged battle


7/21/2017 11:29:14 AM #10

Posted By Maulvorn at 7:11 PM - Fri Jul 21 2017

Most of the time you won't be able to differentiate NPC or PC at a glance.

That is assuming they make the NPCs as good as they talk about them. It could fall way short and we get NPCs which stand out.


7/21/2017 6:15:44 PM #11

Posted By Yoruninja808 at

Snip...

Thinking on it, really the only benefit I see from NPCs that spans across pledge packages is that since they don't have to "log off" they could argueably contribute more to a community than the players could die to time.

Snip..

you do know player characters turn into OPC's (offline player character) and basically become npc's when they log off right? you can even decide what your character does while your offline (yes even useful things, like if your a crafter making some useful items, and also maintaining your property etc)

an opc is probably going to be indistinguishable from a npc (especially because the basic behavior scripts we have to select from will be from SBS, until some people get some third party ones made )


7/21/2017 6:41:34 PM #12

NPCs will be best suited for doing stuff like farming - in medieval times, a majority of the population had to be farmers to generate enough of a food surplus to support the non-farmers.

7/21/2017 6:46:59 PM #13

Posted By Gunnlang at 07:29 AM - Fri Jul 21 2017

Posted By Maulvorn at 7:11 PM - Fri Jul 21 2017

Most of the time you won't be able to differentiate NPC or PC at a glance.

That is assuming they make the NPCs as good as they talk about them. It could fall way short and we get NPCs which stand out.

I think OPC's will blur the line some. I imagine that OPC's and NPC's will be very similar, and it's unlikely you will be able to tell them apart from players at a glance. It sounds like you will probably be able to tell if you start a conversation, however although we don't know for sure.

NPC's can take many roles in this game. They can be your characters parents, spouse, children, neighbors, teachers, apprentices, rivals, bosses, employees, lord, vassal, suppliers, customers, etc. There will be skilled NPC's in every skill tree at the start of the game who can teach us their skills. My understanding is that NPC's are intended to be integral to society at every level. We'll see how well this works out based on how robust their AI is, but that is my understanding of SBS's goal for NPC's.

NPC's will have the same needs as players and will have a wide variety of personalities and goals. They will be active in the world. I'm rather fascinated by SBS's intentions for NPC's and I hope things work out as planned.


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7/21/2017 10:43:54 PM #14

Posted By CommonlyQuixotic at 2:46 PM - Fri Jul 21 2017

Posted By Gunnlang at 07:29 AM - Fri Jul 21 2017

Posted By Maulvorn at 7:11 PM - Fri Jul 21 2017

Most of the time you won't be able to differentiate NPC or PC at a glance.

That is assuming they make the NPCs as good as they talk about them. It could fall way short and we get NPCs which stand out.

I think OPC's will blur the line some. I imagine that OPC's and NPC's will be very similar, and it's unlikely you will be able to tell them apart from players at a glance. It sounds like you will probably be able to tell if you start a conversation, however although we don't know for sure.

NPC's can take many roles in this game. They can be your characters parents, spouse, children, neighbors, teachers, apprentices, rivals, bosses, employees, lord, vassal, suppliers, customers, etc. There will be skilled NPC's in every skill tree at the start of the game who can teach us their skills. My understanding is that NPC's are intended to be integral to society at every level. We'll see how well this works out based on how robust their AI is, but that is my understanding of SBS's goal for NPC's.

NPC's will have the same needs as players and will have a wide variety of personalities and goals. They will be active in the world. I'm rather fascinated by SBS's intentions for NPC's and I hope things work out as planned.

i do remember on occasion hearing remarks from the dev's that lead me to believe their hope is for one day most of the positions to be filled by players.

whether or not that is realistic is surely debatable but i know at one point i had seen a dev (probably caspian, as lets be real he is the face of this whole thing) talking like they would like that to happen, or at least be possible, so whether or not npc's end up being integral to the game and its economies i think will likely be very dependent on players and whether or not a server is all players as well as the number of players in the game who are interested in farming.

EDIT: i would add however i haven't watched a Q&A since around a month or two after kickstarter ended. i prefer to not be too involved in a game in development when i pledge for it, can ruin the game for me. though i do read the written updates.


7/22/2017 1:14:33 AM #15

Well, we will be focusing on enticing NPC's to our town. I wont go into that further but it is my belief that NPC's will be the true engine of the in game economy. Initially, there will be a whole lot more of them than us.