QSP Jack-o-Nine-Tails [v2.3] [ImperatorAugustusTertius / qwertyu12359]

[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

I would like to add random attacks in the Slums. But it should have a "pacifist" route, like paying protection to a gang. Technically, as a member of the slavers guild, you have the backing of the guild and most people shouldn't mess with you because it would invite retaliation. But low-life scum might take their chances anyway.

 

[drebin]

I mean, this is the Eternal Rome. It isn't exactly a welfare state. There's nothing to say that the canned food the slaver can buy for 2 sparks a day is good for him. Of course, there's a bit of an incongruity still with the 1 and 2 spark meals at the Hip being healthier than 2 spark canned food. Probably those meals are underpriced.

It's specifically virgin meat for 3 spark, I doubt that it would be underpriced, even if humans are a commodity, virgins are not.

 

[drebin]

I would like to add random attacks in the Slums. But it should have a "pacifist" route, like paying protection to a gang. Technically, as a member of the slavers guild, you have the backing of the guild and most people shouldn't mess with you because it would invite retaliation. But low-life scum might take their chances anyway.

Just consider going up against random thugs with D- strength. It would be fine if you live elsewhere and get attacked while you're in the slums, but while you live there, food actively making you weak, it would have to be really well balanced to not just be annoying.

 

[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

Virgin just means young. Extra virgin is what you're thinking of. Anyway, restaurants obviously can obtain better ingredients at wholesale prices than a lone slaver buying food for himself, so the quality of a 2 spark restaurant meal can exceed the quality of 2 sparks at home.

 

[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

Well, you might be able to loot some sparks from the random attackers if you win, making it a risk/reward situation. But yes, it would need to be winnable or avoidable to avoid being purely frustrating.

 

[drebin]

Then let him buy better food at a more expensive price. The moneylender or smugglers could probably get you good quality food.

 

[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

He has nowhere to store fresh food in the Slums, being without a stasis chamber. The restaurants meet the need for better food, I don't see a need to replace them, just balance the cost/time so the challenge level is calibrated where we want it to be.

 

[drebin]

You don't need to store it, they are at walking distance. You just go there sometime during your routine, buy it and go back to eat. We don't see the slaver buying canned food either, it just happens.

 

[drebin]

Wasn't the whole point of the change to make the slum cost as much as an actual district? Isn't being able to buy overpriced food from smugglers in line with that idea?

 

[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

I mean, I don't object to it in principle, but I have no motivation to come up with lore, images and text for it when there are already options that accomplish the same purpose - like going to the Hip. The travel energy cost simply needs to be balanced against the benefit to make it worthwhile. And if we remove the -1 nightly after eating out, as you suggested, I think that does the trick.

 

[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

The Slums are still less expensive than living in a district. Living in the outcasts quarter costs 50 sparks per decade for rent, plus at least 20 sparks for food (canned). If you spend an extra 30 sparks per week on food in the Slums, you're breaking even, but once you reach a higher level of health (and the Hip's 3 spark meals can get you to B+), you can maintain it by eating out every fourth day (assuming we remove the -1 nightly on the day when you eat out, you get +2 for that day and -1 for each subsequent day, so after the third night you're back to where you were before the meal).

You save on bathing if you live in the outcasts district, but you don't need to bathe regularly in the Slums, that's a luxury, and it is included in slave training costs/rewards when you take the slave to the beach.

 

[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

I also find it amusing that having a skilled secretary doing the accounting can reduce your canned food expenses...

 

[drebin]

Considering you still have less facilities and having to pay every time a slave needs to attend a class, I wouldn't call it cheaper. It is also harder to keep up slave mood in the slums, which does negatively impact her training. It is basically another form of cost you have to pay.

I guess we could say the costs have wider range of movement, since you can be extremely stingy and keep costs low, but you can also pay twice as much as a cheap district on classes and other necessities.

 

[drebin]

I also find it amusing that having a skilled secretary doing the accounting can reduce your canned food expenses...

Agreed with you there. I rarely see it though, since I usually move out of the Slums by the time I train my own secretary.

 

[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

That's true, but conversely if you live in the outcasts you probably are paying for better food ingredients which raises your costs.

I just updated the master-ia branch with two changes: no -1 nightly food health penalty if you ate out, and master fighter skill now contributes to morale in combat, with the contribution of domination and personality cut in half to compensate. Should give the master a minimum 10 morale when wearing Aketon. And he can reach C- fighting skill with Aketon just by losing enough spars. Give it a try and let me know what you think...

 

[drebin]

Will do. We slowly can't even go outside, so I'll have enough time to mess around with it.

I do hope I'm not coming off as trying to nitpick, I just hold this start in high regard since I almost exlusively played like this for years now.
Either way, thanks for listening to me. I'll leave it there for today. I'll update you once I played it for a day or two.

 

[qwertyu12359]

Regarding the apparent inconsistency in that slave food seems to be healthier than the master's canned food. Perhaps the slaver is simply too prideful to eat slave food. Or perhaps the nutrient mix is only suitable for females and would not meet the nutritional needs of the male slaver, therefore being no better than eating his canned food, which at least tastes slightly better.

The second officious explanation definitely ^^

 

[Crell]

How exactly do you get your slave to do anything? No matter what I do, they disobey absolutely everything.

 

[ImperatorAugustusTertius]

Have you played through the tutorial?

 

[coledrmd]

I would prefer it if instead of the food directly increasing/decreasing the stats it worked indirectly by it more difficult to raise some of the slaver's stats and making them decrease easier. This could also be extended to the slaves as well, forcing the player need to choose whether to value quick stat growth at the cost of the slave feeling entitled or slow stat growth while focusing on obedience. I feel this indirect approach would give food quality meaning while not making it overly tedious for the player.