Current change plans, subject to revision based on discussion:
* Start: slow technical code cleanup that doesn't change file format, to give time for bug reports to land before radical changes land.
* Name generation: both new names, and reclassifying names, is on the table. We have several instances where the women's spelling sounds the same
as the men's spelling, and is assigned to men.
* Actors.CSV: the stamina column will be revised out. This particular statistic should be space-time scaled; the current unconditional 60 stamina
for all livings is 30 time ticks of stamina regeneration. I need this hardcoded so it automatically does the right thing when TURNS_PER_HOUR
(the fundamental space-time scale parameter) is adjusted.
* Actors.CSV: reduce the entries to those exemplars required to construct the others. It's the simplest way to introduce a policewoman model
(to complete the bluffing being a cop mechanic).
* Remove the Wait command. It's a death trap, and doesn't play nice with multiple player characters.
* More reasonable survivalist basement stockpiles.
* Police station layout adjustments.
Then we hit the high-risk subproject: taking down the peace walls.
1) Universally existing exits for both ground level and sewers levels; the absence of an exit is equivalent to it being blocked i.e. no more
surprise losing turns when changing districts. This may happen late enough to not radically alter level generation, but given how many
unexpected side effects I've hit with level generation I wouldn't count on that. The peace walls aren't gone, but they're porous.
2) Enabling cross-district pathfinding. This is technically simple (the heavy lift was cross-map pathfinding), but is likely to expose bugs.
It also triggers massive CivilianAI revisions (e.g., livings now can change districts to get food, rearm, etc.)
3) Optionally, outright take down the peacewalls i.e. enable line of sight/line of fire across the district boundaries. This may be impossible
to do with a reasonable ETA, and can only be attempted because I'm using proper source code control. Success triggers another round of CivilianAI
revisions.
After completing #2 and rejecting or completing #3, I can consider thematic adjustments.
E.g., a new difficulty option may be provided, stating the general politics of the city before the z apocalypse in U.S. terms:
RED CITY,RED STATE (default): No changes; game will be balanced around this. The law is so far from world standards that those gun shops
are registered, legal businesses and general stores are allowed to stock firearms, etc. Pre-apocalypse, civilians can be licensed to
conceal-carry firearms (and this is implied by starting with the Firearms skill).
The nearest real-world analogs, outside of the named cities/states in the U.S.: Yemen. No other nation has Internet-documentable legal
gun shops as of 2013 (when I last checked).
Extra names stereotypical for this difficulty option will be considered for revising in.
BLUE CITY,RED STATE: Changes from RED CITY, RED STATE: Gun shops won't be found near the police station (two district radius:
police station in C2 allows in A0/A4/E0/E4 in a 5x5 district game, but no others). General stores can still have ammo, but not
ranged weapons.
RED CITY, BLUE STATE: Changes from RED CITY, RED STATE: Gun shops won't be found near the police station, one district radius:
police station in C2 disallows in B1/C1/D1/B2/C2/D2/B3/C3/D3. General stores can still have ammo, but not ranged weapons.
Pre-apocalypse, civilians cannot be licensed to conceal-carry firearms; residences will not spawn with pistols, but still can
spawn with rifles or shotguns. Survivalist caches are not affected.
EUROPE: Changes from RED CITY, RED STATE: Gun stores banned (none in the city). General stores will not have
either ranged weapons or ammo. Pre-apocalypse, civilians cannot be licensed to own firearms; residences will not spawn with
either ranged weapons or ammunition. Survivalist caches are not affected, again.
While the proposed difficulty levels are correlated with Liberty Crime Squad's C through L++ legal spectrum, an exact analogy is not going to happen.