Hi Everyone,
The Negotiation System now has a working Story Element in the Testing Branch! It will still be a while until this reaches the Default Branch as it needs more testing, but it now works and anyone can opt in to try it today.
The Testing Branch is open to everyone and is available via Steam/Clanfolk/Properties/Betas
The Negotiation System turned out be be quite complex due to the interaction of so many game systems to make Negotiation work as a live event vs a traditional instant dialogue tree, but that is the cool part so I think it is worth the extra time.
As part of v0.457 there are many other new mechanics to be aware of as well (part of why this update took a while)
Note: There is a single prototype Negotiation Event right now. It is triggered by denying the Outcast Father when he arrives looking for the Outcast Mother. Wait a few days and it will happen.
Lets dive into all the new stuff!
The Negotiation System
The Negotiation System is a Live Event that is triggered by a Messenger. In this case, Lauchlan wants Janat and Keneth to come with him. Lauchlan has also brought backup after being turned away the first time.
The Player has the option to Send them Away or start a Brawl at any time, but the options to keep Janat and Keneth are gated behind Authority and Courage Thresholds. This is where the Live Negotiation happens. The Player needs to finesse the Courage and Authority bars to unlock the options they desire before patience runs out.
Note: Though always available, brawling is a very dangerous option and should be considered a failure case. More on that below.
Patience
Patience will lower over time as the Negotiation progresses. When Patience runs out, a failure case will trigger. In this example the failure case would be a Brawl. Tempers got to hot.
Patience can decrease more quickly if the Opponent feels threatened and more slowly if they are in a dominant position.
Conversation Topics
The major factor in Patience reduction is the conversation flow. When the flow is left on Natural, this can be seen as the conversation topics flowing logically from one to the next. On the other hand, imagine moving the slider all the way to Intimidation. This means your Clan Leader will ONLY pick intimidating topics, and the Opponents patience will go down much more quickly.
Opponent: "Wow looks like rain"
Clan Leader: "You have a very punchable face"
Opponent: "What a nice rug"
Clan Leader: "You really do have a very punchable face"
Listening to that would get tiring quickly, which is what I am trying to model here.
Another important piece of the puzzle are two new skills Intimidation and Persuasion. I will go into more detail on these below, but someone who is very persuasive will do much more Authority "damage" to the Opponent when a Persuasion topic is picked. This is the same for Courage and Intimidation.
Authority
Authority is the Opponent's sense of being "in the right" and conversely the Clan Leader's sense of being "in the wrong." When Authority is maxed, the Opponent will choose an outcome and the Clan Leader will have to agree because they have been out debated.
On the other hand, if the Clan Leader moved the Authority bar to zero, the Opponent will give up their argument and leave.
Authority changes based on both sides Persuasion skills. So trying to out talk a very smooth talking messenger could be difficult. There are ways to help with this though.
Authority can be influenced by the Environment. As seen in the Picture above, Jon lead Lachlan into the Clan Hall, which is very large and also richly appointed. Lachlan has gotten the affliction "Such Luxury" from the surrounding area. Lachlan is very impressed and as such, his Authority constantly takes a small decrease every second.
So WHERE the argument takes place really matters. Talking to a Tax collector in a Grand Hall would not be a good idea.
Courage
Courage is the Opponent's will to fight. When the Opponent's Courage Bar reached zero, they will flee, but if it reaches the Maximum, the Clan will surrender and give in to the Opponent's demands.
An important note on Courage is that if a Brawl does break out, the Initial Courage values of the Opponent's side will be determined by the Courage Bar location when the negotiation ended. Low courage opponents are quite easy to scare off with a show of force or knocking a few down.
The Player Clan's Courage will be the inverse of the Opponent's Courage. So if the Opponent is at 20%, the Player Clan will be at 80%. So handling a Negotiation well can put you in a much better position in a Brawl!
Signal For Backup
Signal For Backup can also be a very powerful option. In some cases, it it smart to let the Opponent think that they are in a much stronger position. Having greater numbers than the Clan Leader will make the Opponent lose patience more slowly. This can give the Clan Leader time to make more convincing arguments and win via Authority.
In the picture above, Lachlan has the "Overwhelming" affliction. This is because he has 3 guards with him, all glaring at Jon while they Negotiate. Lachlan's Courage increases quickly, but his Patience decreases more slowly, which can be used to the Player's advantage.
On the other hand, if the Player wants to Scare Off Lachlan and his cronies, then a full show of force should do the trick as well. In some cases, sacring off the Opponent would be a very bad idea, so again the Negotiation flow needs to be tailored to the outcomes that the Player wants to unlock.
Negotiation Summary
Since the Negotiation flows over time, the Player has some control over its outcome based on the Conversation topics chosen, the Environment, as well as the amount of Backup they have.
As a Negotiation progresses, it is important to adapt to the flow of the conversation. If it turns out that Intimidation just is not working, then perhaps a compromise option unlocked with Persuasion could give a good enough compromise.
New Skills
To make all this work, two new Skill have been added, Persuasion, and Intimidation.
Persuasion
Persuasion will directly modify Authority changes in Negotiation, but the addition of this new skill also may have some other cool side effects. Since Persuasion is a Skill, it can have a priority. This means that it could potentially be some Clanfolk's job to "Cheer People Up" when they are not working on higher priority tasks.
So imagine guests who were close to leaving due to low satisfaction having someone look after them a bit. This opens the door to more hospitality options that I am excited about.
Currently, the Persuasion Skill is levelled up via Talking. So the Clanfolk with high Social needs will tend to be the best at Persuasion over time because they talk the most :)
Intimidation
Intimidation will directly modify Courage changes in a Negotiation, but it also increases the damage done in Brawls.
Intimidation values increase via hard labor. Things like Hauling and Chopping Trees create the biggest gains.
Intimidation Skill Priority determines WHEN a Clanfolk will provide backup in a Negotiation. If the skill is at the bottom of the list, they will only come during free time. If it is at the top of the list, they will come as soon as they finish their current task.
When a Brawl erupts, everyone with the Intimidation Skill active will drop their current task and participate. (Babies don't Brawl though)
Those with the Intimidation Skill Disabled will Hide during a Brawl.
Brawling
When a Negotiation fails, sometimes the outcome may be a Brawl. Brawling does not use weapons and is not meant to be fatal. It is a failure case in a Negotiation where long term injuries are possible.
I struggled with the idea of Combat in Clanfolk quite a bit. Initially, when Negotiations were a normal Dialog Tree instead of a Live Event as they are now, I considered making the Brawl Injuries a dice roll as part of the Dialog tree, but once the Live Negotiation happened, the Brawling had to be Live to feel right.
The Important outcome of Brawls is the threat of Injuries and Avoiding them. The Player should consider less optimal compromises in a Negotiation to prevent a Brawl from happening. In some cases it is better to compromise than risk an injury.
Brawls track two forms of "Health." There is the Health Bar, which will get knocked down as the fighting progresses, leading to a Knock Out state. There is also the Courage Bar. It is possible to Scare away opponents in a Brawl. As an Opponent is surrounded or sees their ally Knocked Out, their Courage goes down and eventually they will flee.
Knock Outs and Injuries
As a Brawl progresses, people get Knocked Out as their health gets low. The Higher the Intimidation Skill, the more damage done during a Brawl, and the less likely Damage will be taken.
When a Knockout does happen, there is a change of Injury. These new Injuries are the most important part of the system, and I think will add a lot of flavor to the personal stories of each Clanfolk.
I will be writing an Injury Manager System to handle distributing a wide variety of these afflictions in the future, but for now the test case is a broken left or right arm. This will lower work efficiently drastically until healed and should make the player thing twice about throwing punches.
Brawling Optional
I have put quite a lot of thought into making the Brawling fit into the peaceful but also historically accurate atmosphere of Clanfolk, but in the case where players just do not want to have it ever happen, there will be an option to bypass this stage in a Negotiation as well.
Clan Leader (Future Content)
Currently the Clan Leader comes up a lot in the descriptions above. The Clan Leader is currently auto picked as the oldest Clan Member, but I plan to add a new system to choose them as well as have story outcomes to this selection in the future.
I am very excited to hear your thoughts on the Negotiation System.
Thanks again everyone!
Andrew Hume (Blorf)
MinMax Games Ltd.