Here are some ideas on how DF's mission system could be improved. My goal is not to expand the mission system, but rather to help fill in the gaps in what it's already trying to do.
Messenger - Send an envoy to the site. Best with high social skills. Gifts help. Catastrophic failure could result in being kicked into an huge open pit
while being reminded of the site's name.
1) Sue for peace.
2) Demand surrender, so that the site becomes part of your civilization.
3) Demand economic link, so that the site becomes one of your holdings.
4) Demand complete site information.
5) Demand tribute.
6) Demand delivery of specific item.
7) Demand workers.
The site must deliver some of its best and brightest citizens to work in your fort. Maybe you can choose them specifically.
Spy - One of your citizens assumes a false identity. Think
Burn Notice. These missions would use and train social skills, though Ambusher and combat skills might help in escaping a mission gone wrong. These missions would follow the same logic as what the villains are already doing. Failed spies would generally end up being captured and imprisoned, needing rescue.
1) Surveillance. Stay outside the site posing as a local or traveler, chatting with outgoing visitors and caravans to gather rumors and general information about the site. A safe way to build up social skills.
2) Deep Cover. Enter the site to gather detailed information about it.
3) Establish Asset. Persuade someone in the site to work for you. Crucial for gaining a reasonable chance of success with more difficult spy missions.
4) Steal a specific item.
5) Kidnap a specific individual.
6) Assassinate a specific individual.
7) Rescue a specific prisoner.
Stealth - With these missions, the goal is attrition and theft rather than conquest.
1) Reconnoiter - Stay concealed outside the site to observe it and gain general information. A safe way to build up the Ambusher and Observer skills.
2) Infiltrate - This is the current "Raid" mission, though the difficulty should be higher. Sneak into the site as opportunities present to gather detailed information and steal at random.
3) Skirmish. This is the current "Pillage" mission, watered down. Sneak up to the edge of the site. Burst out and attack whomever you come across. Grab anything close to hand, and flee before enemy soldiers arrive. A relatively safe way to build up Military Tactician and Leader skills.
4) Raid. Sneak into the site. Burst out to create panic and confusion. Kill some people. Take control of the site for an hour or two to steal quality items, or specific items. Rescue prisoners. Leave before the enemy soldiers can regroup and counterattack.
Open Warfare - Domination is the goal. Stealth is optional.
1) Pillage. Attack the site. Spare those who surrender. Kill everyone else. Take whatever you want. Get total site information. Leave.
2) Annihilate. Attack the site. Kill everyone. Take whatever you want. Leave.
3) Raze. Attack the site. Kill everyone. Take whatever you want. Destroy the buildings. Leave.
4) Subjugate. Openly march the army to the site. No stealth option. Inform the residents that they must submit to your rule or you'll kill them all.
Peacetime1) Colonize. Send citizens to a surrendered site to live there and rule over the conquered populace. If colonists don't arrive within six months of the surrender, then the surrender lapses.
2) Send Citizens. Send excess population to any linked site in the civ.
3) Request Citizens. As it stands currently.
4) Request Items. Like a pillage mission, but without the violence. Send some soldiers to take stuff from the target site, such as animals or artifacts.
On a mission with a stealth option, the chance of stealth success should increase with Ambusher skill and should decrease with the number of squads. If a stealth mission involves combat, the stealth adds a bonus if it succeeded and a penalty if it fails. So if you're sending a huge army on a mission, it might be unwise to select the stealth option.
Time to complete the mission would vary with mission type. Messenger missions would be quick. Spy missions would take two weeks or more as the spy establishes his false identity and works his way in. Stealth missions would take a few days. It takes time to find the right moment. In Open Warfare missions, the combat only takes a few hours, though longer if they're approaching stealthily. But the looting after the fighting could take time, and destroying the buildings would take more time.
Sites should have an alert level that would go up when they they realize that they've been the target of spying or stealth missions. The alert level would then decay over time.
Reconnaissance and Surveillance missions should be crucial to building up skills and learning enough about a site to know which missions with which dwarves are likely to succeed.
And a few tweaks to the mission system not related to the above:
1) The player should get a warning if the mission that he's planning could start a war.
2) In multi-squad missions, the soldiers should return to the fort in parallel, the same way they leave for the mission. Currently they return one at a time, which can take a long time for a big army.
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Topic: More Detailed Missions (Read 1075 times)