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Author Topic: Dwarven crime, or how do we make justice system not useless  (Read 1141 times)

Sirbug

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Dwarven crime, or how do we make justice system not useless
« on: October 24, 2013, 09:57:17 am »

We all know and we all can see - sheriff, guard and hammerer are useless people. Only good thing they can actually do to fort is hammer a vampire, which, frankly, a rare occasion.

I propose following system to mitigate it. Give every dorf a hidden "delinquency" counter. It would rise if dorf sees injustice (nobody punished for a crime, he's punished for someone else's crime, someone else is punished for his crime), and fall if justice is dispensed (somebody punished for crime and dorf doesn't know they are innocent).

It get adjusted to situation (is there justice system operational, for example, and his mood) and if counter gets too high, dorf would commit a crime, ranging from punching their fellow dorf or animal in the face to taking a sword from stockpile and murder someone. Dorf with lower delinquency would attack their grudges or avenge unpunished crimes against them and their friends, high would do it out of boredom (like serial killer). Additional crimes might be sabotage (Breaking workshops) and theft (stealing small items and hiding them into chests or something, excluding them from trade and use)

Not only it would give justice (as well as obeying mandates) system proper purpose, it would also allow enthusiasts to try and run dens of vice and anarchy.
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Cool, but wouldn't this likely lead to tongues having a '[SPEACH]' tag, and thus via necromancy we would have nearly unkillable reanimated tongues following necromancers spamming 'it is sad but not unexpected'?

Manveru Taurënér

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Re: Dwarven crime, or how do we make justice system not useless
« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2013, 10:36:20 am »

I doubt that when Toady gets to crime in fort mode we're gonna end up with something as simple as a single counter tbh. We're getting more fleshed out personalities in the next release already as well as wants and goals, which will almost certainly be linked to this somehow. Hopefully actual crime in fortress mode isn't all that far off now anyway, it feels like a very plausible sidetrack when work on taverns get going or during further work on the thief role.
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Waparius

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Re: Dwarven crime, or how do we make justice system not useless
« Reply #2 on: October 25, 2013, 01:14:22 am »

The idea of a hidden delinquency counter is a good one, but dwarves' propensity to crime should be heavily linked to their personality traits - not just their likelihood of committing a crime, but the nature of the crimes they commit; their delinquency should also be influenced by more than just seeing injustices and justices, though that's already in play to an extent with tantrums.

A cowardly dwarf, regardless of their contentment, would be more effected by seeing the guard and their actions, while a brave dwarf may make a fine guard but would be much less influenced by their being around. A greedy dwarf might steal, even stealing from the caravan (or steal goods Marked For Trade if s/he's cleverer). A freethinking dwarf might desecrate the grave of a dead dwarf they hold a grudge against, while a traditionalist dwarf might never steal or sabotage, but could attack freethinkers or dwarves who fail to attend religious ceremonies (when they come in).

 Some rare dwarves should be largely uninfluenced by the presence of the law, whether they're sociopathic or living saints.

There really should be a pillory as well, even if it's just making dwarves decrease their delinquency counter more when they see other dwarves in prison and thus encouraging players to line the corridor to the booze stockpile with caged criminals.
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