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[Lord Dakoth]

I came up with this idea when my mayor mandated the production of Adamantium items... on a 2 year-old fortress.

I'm going to go ahead and assume that most of you, like myself, construct elaborate mechanisms that are reserved for one purpose: Disposing of unnecessary nobles.

Don't lie, you know what I'm talking about. Maybe it was that door that happened to trap a noble in his room... Or perhaps that crossbow trap, subtly set over a lord's bed... I mean, get real. We all know that magma doesn't just SPONTANEOUSLY flood a well-to-do noble's room.

So I was thinking... what if you could hire assassins? There would be a variety of methods of killing, from the traditional knife-in-the-back, to poison in food or drink, or maybe even capturing a deadly, venomous creature and releasing it in the sleeping victim's quarters.

Assassins would stop by at intervals, perhaps disguised in a caravan. A dwarf with a high Judge of Intent skill would be necessary to recognize a disguised, freelancing assassin.

The assassin would demand pay (the more important the target, the more pay) and then go to do his job. Skilled assassins would have a greater chance of success, but would be very pricey.

There would be a chance that an assassin would be identified, perhaps by the Fortress Guard. An caught assassin would be punished, with inescapable death if he struck his mark.

If an assassin was caught, visits by other freelancing assassins would be more infrequent, and more pricey. Also, the assassin (especially in the case of a novice assassin) might betray who hired him, especially if under torture.

Discuss.

[Sphalerite]

Also, the assassin (especially in the case of a novice assassin) might betray who hired him, especially if under torture.

I am getting a mental image of a tortured assassin screaming, "The guy at the keyboard!  The one playing the game!  He's the one who hired me!".

This idea runs into the old question of just what or who the player is supposed to represent.  As it is you aren't a person in the game who revenge can be taken against, but more of a vauge overmind giving orders.  So when the assassin is hired, who's the one who gets fingered?  The trade rep, perhaps, since he's the one who meets diplomats and trade reps, but that can be metagamed abusively anyway.

[Rysith]

Don't lie, you know what I'm talking about. Maybe it was that door that happened to trap a noble in his room... Or perhaps that crossbow trap, subtly set over a lord's bed... I mean, get real. We all know that magma doesn't just SPONTANEOUSLY flood a well-to-do noble's room.

So I was thinking... what if you could hire assassins? There would be a variety of methods of killing, from the traditional knife-in-the-back, to poison in food or drink, or maybe even capturing a deadly, venomous creature and releasing it in the sleeping victim's quarters.

My only question is "why"? As in, if there is a dwarf that you, the overmind, want to kill, it's not something you need to hire an in-game actor to do. There isn't much reason to hire one to kill one of your own dwarves unless you are too lazy to set up any of a hundred known deathtraps (or thousands of yet-to-be-invented ones) to kill them for you.

Now, assassins for other purposes I can see. Goblins bothering you too much? Hire an assassin to take out their leader and watch their sieges go away for a few years as they fight over who gets to be the next one (assassinating demons may be a bit harder)? Yes. Go to war with the humans and discover, when their first few sieges can't get through your gates, that they send someone in to poison the booze? Also yes. But not so much using them to kill off dwarves within your own fortress.

I also think (as a general stealth enhancement that assassins would need) that stealthy creatures should re-stealth when no dwarves are watching them. That means that (for example) an assassin or kobold ambush party might have a chance to kill more than a single dwarf before the champions hunt them down.

[Pilsu]

Nobles being annoying is just a strange game mechanic, adding a way to react to that doesn't make it much better

Regicide or otherwise should be a proper coup unless it's staged by an adventurer. The "spirit of the community" is ill suited to stage such actions

[DanielLC]

There should be a chance of getting an assassin hired by someone outside the fort.

[Craftling]

In the case of your mayor requesting an impossible task, couldnt the person responsible for undertaking the task hire the assassin? I mean he doesnt want to be hammered or jailed so why not do his job the safe, fun way?

[Rowanas]

If they mandate aluminium (arghhhhhh!!!!!) then just murder the dwarf by conventional means. If you have no elaborate deathtraps planned, that's your fault.

[HammerHand]

I would not mind assassination attempts upon the nobles (or even non-nobles) in my fortresses.  It might give the Royal Guard a, y'know, purpose.  However, I do NOT think that these assassination attempts should be triggered by the player.  We already have some great ways to kill off our own Dwarves.  My favorite is the lever in a room full of spikes, linked to all the spikes.  Flip the switch, go to walk out, get trapped by a locked door, get impaled.  Quick and easy if they don't stand stupidly on the lever too long.  Not so quick (but still easy) if they do.

[Muz]

I would actually like murder in the game.

So, like, if the Baron sentences Monom to death, all of Monom's friends would dislike the Baron a little more. One of Monom's friends might get pissed at having no beer and eating only plump helmets, and losing another friend. As the Baron's sentence would throw him over the edge, he goes into a specific murderous tantrum and attempts to kill the Baron.

Hell.. if Monom had 5 friends, and all of them were at the edge of tantruming.. you'd have 5 dorfs trying to kill of the Baron for sentencing their friend to death.

And with this.. nobles would also demand bodyguards from the Royal Guard


I've mentioned liking adventurers as commandos/mercenaries before too.. like building a tavern that works similarly to a Trade Depot. And trading with them to attack cities or kill certain dorfs, without risking the lives of your dwarves. But only a dwarf who doesn't like the dwarf on the hitlist would put out a contract on his head... so gameplay-wise, you'd have a dwarf doing it (not the 'player'), and you'd need to make them hate him enough. A charismatic leader would have less enemies.

[HammerHand]

^^^^

Yes.

This sort of thing may come in with proper successions and schisms?  I don't know the entirety of what's planned for that development (Then again, do any of us?).

[Rowanas]

Wait, you mean tantrum spirals may be the new beginning of a fort rather than the end? AWESOME.