General Discussion

[Xela]

We used to have upgrades. Not the best ones, but not the worst ones either, they would be a good food for thought. Atm I don't even see their tracks in the code.

I removed them due to being too plain, I think the code is in the old_code folder unless I've deleted it.

[Xela]

For some reason I don't see stripper job available, even for slaves which don't have any restrictions.

Are you sure? It seem to be working on my end...

[DarkTl]

Are you sure? It seem to be working on my end...

It's testing.rpy again, I downloaded yours.

So you want all upgrades to give something truly unique? Like, enabling group, well paid actions for whores, for example?

[Xela]

So you want all upgrades to give something truly unique? Like, enabling group, well paid actions for whores, for example?

Yeap, I want them to be meaningful and integrated with other modules. I should have some free time tomorrow so maybe I can think about it some more (I need to write down ideas I have before they are forgotten somehow).

[DarkTl]

Matrons could:
- rewrite customers preferences with a certain probability to available ones.
- disable negative customers traits with a certain probability, like aggressive.
- increase the amount of money customers are ready to spend (they don't bring ALL their money when they go to your establishment).
- reduce the impact of displeased customers on reputation.
- reduce disposition level needed to set characters to "wrong" jobs.
- provide actual micromanagement, ie set characters to autorest when needed and return back to the job after they rest.

I suppose player will have to pick one of these options per manager.

[Xela]

Matrons could:
- rewrite customers preferences with a certain probability to available ones.
- disable negative customers traits with a certain probability, like aggressive.
- increase the amount of money customers are ready to spend (they don't bring ALL their money when they go to your establishment).
- reduce the impact of displeased customers on reputation.
- reduce disposition level needed to set characters to "wrong" jobs.
- provide actual micromanagement, ie set characters to autorest when needed and return back to the job after they rest.

I suppose player will have to pick one of these options per manager.

I wonder if we should implement simpler mechanics and modify them as OldHuntsman does in his games... It would be easier to work with at the very least.

[DarkTl]

That contradicts your wish to make upgrades truly unique 

[Xela]

That contradicts your wish to make upgrades truly unique 

Not necessarily... in Civ, Wonders, more often than not, modify the main "stats" and yet feel unique. We could find smart ways to influence those mechanics, attract different customers, modify workers values and etc.

We may not be able to properly utilize a system as it is now (where we make "on spot" decisions anywhere in the code) fully with just the two of us remaining on the dev team. Plainer, clearer design where we "flag" events and gather values to be normalized, analyzed and applied. I noticed that you tried to balance the job a bit, how difficult was it/how far did you get?

[Xela]

I'll see if I can add the manager job for to the assignments screen and limit the amount of available jobs where-ever appropriate.

[DarkTl]

I noticed that you tried to balance the job a bit, how difficult was it/how far did you get?

I balanced everything but income and payment. Mostly because money code is scattered over multiple files, but also because we need all jobs available before doing it with money.

In terms of stats it's not difficult. Since we have so many ways to increase stats, jobs should not be effective in that regard.

I believe managers should have limited ability to watch over characters, probably based on management skill level, something like 5 + 1 character per 100 management skill.

[Xela]

I believe managers should have limited ability to watch over characters, probably based on management skill level, something like 5 + 1 character per 100 management skill.

What do you mean by that? In my mind they manager the businesses, not character. Characters they will be able to influence positively. On the "how many chars" front, I think we need to convert managers AP, Management Skill and traits to "job points" and have managers act based off that.

Also, I am now 99% certain that we f*cked up with the "AP" concept. It was ok for the simpler SimBrothel design but for the game as it stands now, it's almost useless as we are forced to convert or ignore it related to almost anything... we'll prolly keep it for now but use easy to tweak conversion formulas in more places, it will allow more clarity and better control... we can have job points per different jobs, conversation/interaction points, H-points and etc. Traits will prolly become more interesting as well.

[Xela]

I balanced everything but income and payment. Mostly because money code is scattered over multiple files, but also because we need all jobs available before doing it with money.

In terms of stats it's not difficult. Since we have so many ways to increase stats, jobs should not be effective in that regard.

So, with other words: meaningless and to difficult to relay to player effectively

It's prolly best to leave it for now as it is, it was often possible to improve the designs after they were complete, just make a working system and straiten it out later as we usually do instead of writing a concept for two month and work off that.

[DarkTl]

Well, for instance autorest options should be controlled by managers, not just happen. And if one manager can watch over infinite amount of chars, it makes hiring more managers questionable.

AP is certainly useful for actions outside of the next day routine. If you want to have multiple types of AP, it might be very confusing.

So, with other words: meaningless and to difficult to relay to player effectively

Of course. A whore could have multiple customers per turn. If they all will give a huge chance to upgrade stats/skills, chars will be maxed out very quickly, making items and schools useless.

[Xela]

Well, for instance autorest options should be controlled by managers, not just happen. And if one manager can watch over infinite amount of chars, it makes hiring more managers questionable.

We can prolly do better than that enabling some form of a "burn-out" routine forcing working who can be forced to work past their limits. I am not sure why we want auto-rest to be controlled since all it does is putting worker to rest when they cannot work anymore. Your suggestion would make perfect sense if workers could continue working with penalties even after their fatigue was low, but that is not presently the case.

AP is certainly useful for actions outside of the next day routine. If you want to have multiple types of AP, it might be very confusing.

Yeah... you're prolly right, AP do serve as a kind of a easy to grasp/understand attribute. I am still in favor of job points to be introduced at some point.

Of course. A whore could have multiple customers per turn. If they all will give a huge chance to upgrade stats/skills, chars will be maxed out very quickly, making items and schools useless.

That's why I am saying that we could do the whole thing at one place under the same code and set flags/counter during the job routines. It's still just a thought on how we can try to make the design more manageable.

[DarkTl]

I am not sure why we want auto-rest to be controlled since all it does is putting worker to rest when they cannot work anymore. Your suggestion would make perfect sense if workers could continue working with penalties even after their fatigue was low, but that is not presently the case.

In many other games an attempt to put a way too tired character to work ends up with either high chance of illness or wasted turn.

That's why I am saying that we could do the whole thing at one place under the same code and set flags/counter during the job routines. It's still just a thought on how we can try to make the design more manageable.

Will be difficult for whores at very least, since they get different skills bonuses depending on acts (anal, vaginal, etc). All other jobs so far are more predictable though.