Something to make adventure mode more playable, in a fairly realistic way. Allegiance identifiers: no more running into fights or even armies and pitched battles with no way to figure out who's fighting who or why. Naturally, battles can be confusing, at least at first. Yet there should also be clues, as there would be irl. Or even extremely obvious things like uniforms; soldiers and warbands should make some effort to be identifiable to each other before going into battle or on raids/campaigns. Sewing/painting/chalking/penciling their entity symbol on shields/surcoats/capes/brooches or cloaks would be the most reliable indicator. If your adventurer has ever seen the symbol before, a creature description might read "A swordsdwarf with a six petalled lily painted on his shield in dimple dye. You recognize the symbol as that of the Crucible of Cheese, a dwarven civilization." And then whenever you look at another soldier with that indicator; it might simply read "A speardwarf of the Crucible of Cheese". It might even be cool for units to be the color of their "uniform" if any (because to me, who a unit is fighting for is far more useful info than what their highest weapon skill is, which is how colors are assigned now; I don't care if the guy has a sword or an ax; I care whether it's me he's about to smack with it).
Less sophisticated factions might have less sophisticated identifiers; something as simple as the color or style of someone's crest, the braiding of their beard, or a tattoo could tell you what outlaw gang/militia/what have you they're in. Though in such case, you might not be able to figure it out until you've had a chance to ask the significance of an identifier. Though even if you don't know WHY one group is all wearing matching plumes, you should be able to quickly notice it (so that if you decide to side with one group and win the fight for them, you can make sure to only kill the other side).
You should also be able to ask someone WHY they are fighting. It seems like a really weird omission that you can't (you can ask someone why they're WALKING, which seems somehow less urgent). Of course, bandits robbing a caravan might be less than forthright about their intentions, but bandits under attack by a squad of knights will truthfully state that they're fighting for their lives. The knights, conversely, will proudly announce that they're clearing the roads of bandits for the glory of King Whatsisname.
It seems like a lot to take in in a fight, but when you consider how much you can learn from a few frantic words and visual cues (where such things are available) it makes sense. Think Skyrim; if you're wandering, and you see legionaries fighting bandits, you know it immediately.
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Topic: Allegiance Identifiers (Read 1434 times)