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

7/22/2017 3:25:36 AM #16

Posted By CommonlyQuixotic at 04:46 AM - Sat Jul 22 2017

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.

I agree there. They are basically the same at that level. But I find it hard to believe if the player was online, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Unless they are RPing, then maybe.


7/22/2017 4:20:18 AM #17

Building up from Marokof's post, the thing I'm wondering now is if NPCs will prove to be an actual challenge, not so much in terms of combat abilities and prowess but more so how "human" their interactions will be in regards to the dance of dynasty or just kingdom management overall.

As some have mentioned, the goal is to make it so NPCs will be hard to distinguish from actual players but that is a high bar to set since "there's many different ways to skin a cat".

I think I'm just concerned that if we put an NPC in a situation that requires them to act, the AI will take the same approach all the time.

Will NPCs have the "Hero Syndrome" where if their on patrol and notice one of their patrol buddies is missing will they go investigate before reporting it or will some raise the alarm right away without knowing if there's a problem to begin with.

Another example would be if we offered our offer our child to be married off, if we have nothing to offer would they deny the offer out right?

I guess this part is just me not understanding OCEAN as well but yeah, what do you think community.


UDL

7/22/2017 4:54:45 AM #18

the whole thing with there being OPC's will help with that to some degree at least, especially if the only interaction someone has had with your character is when it was in OPC mode. and considering most people will be offline the majority of the day there is a good chance most people will be fooled most of the time, unless they do deep digging on the activities of a specific character, or witness them while a player is in control of them.


7/22/2017 10:26:52 AM #19

i personaly have to say i find NPC to have alot more value then players.

i have raised a few threads regarding this subject and every thread i been in has shown me more and more reasons why npc will be better then a PC.

here are some of the high lights

  • PC guards cant handle normal guard duties that may be needed. every player i talked to has said "thats what NPC's are for...

  • in the case of a Lord (what ever the title or scale) gose to war and takes his army out into the field. If said army moves and some PC are in OPC mode as is the convention that they wont take orders in OPC mode when the lord moves the army all the OPC will stay behind and likly die why the NPC obey the lawful orders of there lord.

  • when doing trade one can order a NPC trade convey to travel to a location with a reasonable chance of it arriving in a reasonable time frame. now if it is a PC convey it will have to stop every time the PC need to log off stay still till they come back. and if not all of the PC come back and they move again the OPC refusing to take lawful orders will stay put and probly die.

  • Wages NPC will come to you with a set reasonable wage and you will get a standardise amount of productivity from them constantly. hireing a PC on the other hand is more risky as they could get bored and want to go adventure and such so why they may be able to work on something better and faster the consistency is very lacking. but a PC will be more likly also to ask for more money then a NPC.

  • discipline in the battle field. as has been noted a army of NPC are more likly to stay in formation and follow most orders then PC. (OPC wont follow orders) also why there is a chance the NPC will want to be heros i would expect as a whole most NPC will have a higher sense of self persvation this will mean more likly to run but also they wont run out as lemmings.

so why i do wish to have alot of players in my county i find NPC to be a major asset that is more workable then current views on how OPC scripts will work.

got to remember a NPC is ingame 100% of the time with no major disruptions they will go about there daily tasks day in day out as long as the pay is good.

a PC will be on for say 3-5 hrs a day and rest in a OPC mode that may or may not be useful for there given job.


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7/22/2017 1:02:11 PM #20

i agree Mandrake, a healthy NPC population will be vital for any county for example.


7/29/2017 3:24:07 AM #21

So would it be a good assumption to say that NPCs will be the steady "reliable" workforce whereas players would be more like your "specialist" within a field?

I could dig that.

While I have no intentions of running a settlement of any size, do you think if you had the support of the majority of the NPCs you'd be able to hold a CB and fend of the counter CB you get to try and reclaim your title?

I know in most situations it would be player > NPC but if you had the majority NPC support then would the numbers kinda balance out the skill differences?


UDL

7/29/2017 3:30:13 AM #22

Posted By Maulvorn at 05:39 AM - Fri Jul 21 2017

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

NPCs also have consistent numbers. An NPC garrison will always be there, and will likely always outnumber players even when a large number is logged in.

If you need shock troops, NPCs are your go-to.


7/29/2017 7:11:13 AM #23

Yes NPC will be the life blood of any settlement and getting them on your side should be a high objective.

if NPC AI is done right they should be just as needy as PC but more activly do things as they never log out and will just continue tasks based of there needs system.

but lifes are finite thats why when it was first said they would only have 1 life alot of us got concerned. but i believe SBS is chaning how many lives a NPC will have based off some internal system they have which i hope is true.

because as i see it other then some players being more industries the only other PC has over a NPC is there number of lifes.

the other thing is that a npc you could set a task to travel 3 kingdoms over and deliver a letter.

now figuring that a NPC and PC would both use realivty same amount of stamina so roughtly have to stop as much as the other.

i would give the PC bonus for picking a shorter path and reacting to events and threats better but that player has to log out... no way they could personaly travel 3 kingdoms without needing to log out unless they are a very very dedicated player with no rl work.

so when the player logs out what ever lead they got on the NPC will be lost and if they are sleeping on a avrage of 7hrs thats 7 hrs the NPC got ahead of u.

then if u have a job and work roughtly 8hrs thats another 8hrs the npc was happly traveling. so when u login the avrage joe would have lost 15hrs on a NPC and that dose not include travel 2 and from work or anything...

so in the minority of players who can be online with just 6-7 hrs sleep and play thru the day every day nearly every one else will under perform in certain tasks vs a NPC.

with the way people are saying the OPC scripting will be they wont be able to compete in certain tasks like the one i used as a example.

they may be able to compete if say they are the owner of a black smith and set the opc to be forgeing iron why they are off line. this is one of those cases where a PC could possably keep up with a NPC but a NPC would probly also be doing things like researching better forgeing methods. maybe activtly interacting with cusomters and such.

sadly there is a gap the PC and OPC just cant fill that NPC fills perfectly.

to say that there will eventually be no NPC and all players is both scary and restricting as there will always be a place for NPC workers


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