So been playing Raana too much in the past few days. I've got a list of suggestions, many of which you might have heard before, some of which you might not. Use them, discuss them, ignore them at your pleasure.
- Combat could use more variety than choosing who to shoot first. My recommendation would be skill-based abilities every 25 skill points or so. These could be healing abilities (from science?), cc abilities (distracting speech from academics?), debuffs (flagellation anyone?), and so much more. Hopefully that'll make combat feel like less of a chore and allow non-combat builds to participate a little more.
- The combat system might also benefit from more situational weapons. How about a sword-breaker that increases damage or evasion against enemies with melee weapons? A rapier that's excellent against armored opponents, but less effective against those with none? Grenades to damage entire enemy squads, but less to single targets? Once again, combat could really use more variety than it has.
- While I don't mind dice rolling (especially with a 5d20 option), I could go with a little more certainty in the systems. For instance, why do I need to roll charm in order to maybe get a stat boost off explaining a slave's chores? If I succeed on the charm roll, I feel like I should win some sort of increase, even if the degree or location of the increase is randomized. Academy classes are much the same. I guess what I'm saying is that if I'm spending money, time, or beating dice rolls, I should be rewarded with something in a game where maxing a character could take in game (and maybe real life) months.
- Ikaanos could really use more non-slave people/factions. The mercenary affection system and house parties are a good start, but in general I'd love to see more characters like Mr. Derwin and factions like Kymanto. Slave girls are great, but I felt like I ran out of people to see and things to do that weren't random encounters unfortunately quickly. Feel free to ignore this comment if this is on the agenda later.
- Could I get some HP boosts for mercs/slaves? Taking them into combat is pretty rough when they die to two good hits, even in combat armor. Incidentally, I love that a frequently used merc increases in their skills. I've got Aiko to 90 ranged skill... if only I didn't have to save scum to get her through any reasonably challenging fight...
- There are a number of menu opening and navigation options that burn time when I feel they shouldn't. For instance, clicking on a slave girl burns six minutes even if you don't say a word. Choosing "interact options" burns six minutes, even if you don't interact with your slave at all. Walking outside your house burns 18 minutes even if you immediately turn around and go back inside. There are a huge number of menu options that can burn time in bits and pieces adding up to hours. It triggers my min-max instinct in a really negative way.
Anyway, that's off the top of my head. I had a lot of fun playing and look forward to future patches.
Thanks for the feedback!
1, 2 - The combat system is getting a major revamp in 0.8.5, so there'll be a lot more tactical choices, better realism and other changes that are going to address much of what's currently lacking here.
3 - I'm tweaking stuff like this all the time trying to get a good balance between tedious grind and "too-easy" skill progression. Might see some changes to this now that I'll focus on interactions instead of expanding Ikaanos. However, it's intentional that training a slave takes time.
4 - A lot more is coming on this front with expanded factions, visitable neighbors, more great houses to join/work for and expanded dialogues with current vendors.
5 - The new trait system (goes live in 0.8) can provide the Tough trait (75 Health) or Steel Maiden trait (100 Health) to certain slaves - either randomly or through pre-determined character traits. Those girls will be more valuable as combat maidens and not suffer like their weaker sisters (Rebecca will be able to take more hits than the feeble Lovisa, for instance). Might work something out for mercs too later on, maybe buff their Health as they rise in level.
6 - Also something I'll look into with the new focus on interactions.