NPCs & Enemies Allies-system

Is this a good idea?

  • Yeah, this is pretty cool!

  • This is horrid, you should completely rethink this.

  • I was promised pizza...


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This is an idea i've had for awhile now, (Alongside another rather large one that would largely rely on the existence of this allies-system, so I needed to make this thread first `:D and just found this section of the forum, so i'm going to try to spell it all out here.

One thing i've found really annoying is that many aspects of the game seem to be designed with multiple players in mind. For instance, I was attempting to build a soul-farm in an artificial Corruption/Jungle biome. Normally if you was playing with others, you'd have someone keep you safe, while you do the building, or the other way around, and if you're not a post-plantera summoner, good luck surviving that many things attacking you at once whilst you're occupied building! (Granted, not everyone builds soul farms, but there are many other instances where this is a similar case)

So, My idea is that there could be an allies system, where you could find multiple NPC-characters scattered around the world randomly (Similarly to how bound NPCs work), who you could talk to and add them to an "Allies List" (More info later on in the thread.) However, these NPCs would NOT move into houses. Stuff like archaeologists in the desert, Miners in the caverns layer, Eskimos in the Tundra, and Witches in the world's evil biome. Each one could either be befriended by finding them multiple times, giving them specific items that they ask for (Nothing too rare, and all stuff related to their class) giving them a set amount of money, or saving them from a swarm of attacking mobs (Would differ depending on the class) For instance, the archaeologist could ask you for a nightmare/deathbringer pickaxe for the reason that they need it to "Mine desert fossils" (This is just a form of payment, and he/she would NOT take any of your world's supply of fossils)


How you would summon these Allies would be through a new item, called the Landline Phone. It would be a furniture item that you could interact with, and once an ally is selected, they would spawn off-screen and run to your location. Once they appear, you can left-click on them to open a GUI where you can give them Healing Potions, Mana Potions, a single Weapon, Armor, and Accessories, HOWEVER, these allies are incapable of receiving set bonuses from armor, as a way of balancing. Also, they can NOT use summoning-items, (Again, would be far too overpowered if you technically had 2 max-length stardust dragons attacking for you at once) as well as only being able to use one buff-potion.

Instead of having set bonuses, each ally would have their own specific bonus. For instance, the Witch would have +15% Magic Damage, and -30% mana cost, where as the Miner would have 30% damage reduction from having to survive cavern-based creatures.

After an Ally dies, they'll lie on the ground for 10 seconds before disappearing. Depending on how much damage they take during that time, it'll take that much longer before they can be called again. For instance, if they take no damage, they can just be summoned after one day or night's time, but say they get beaten on by the twins and take 9000 damage, it would take them 9 and a half days before they can come back. (This can be sped up with cash, similarly to how the nurse costs less money over time due to you healing faster, I don't have any set amount in mind that would be a base cost, however.)

They would attack similarly to a player, using whatever weapons that have been supplied by you in order to attack enemies/bosses, and can also have certain enemies set to NOT be attacked, in case you're looking for a tortured soul or something. They would start off being fairly weak and slow, but over time they would gain a sort of EXP by both killing enemies, and just staying alive in general. For instance, Allies that have been given Ranged weapons will just start off standing around and shooting bullets/arrows without attempting to dodge whatsoever, and over time would learn to keep their distance from any enemies whenever possible. (similar thing for mages, but would change depending on the equipped weapon) And Melee allies would just follow a basic fighter AI at first.

Well, that's just about all I have for ideas at the moment, Be sure to add constructive criticism in the comments wherever possible! (Please no just saying" Boo you suck!")
 
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Jesus christ, I'm just re-reading this to search for typos, and dear lord are there tons of them. Guess that's what I get for quickly typing this out after getting back from an incredibly boring shopping trip...
 
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Eh one question you said that you would pay em with stuff and gave an example of a nightmare or deathbringer pickaxe but how would these payments change thru the game i mean it would be kinda dumb to give a nightmare pickaxe to get a helper while you already have beat the golem.
 
That's just a form of payment to get them on your allies list, after that they can be equipped with any gear from any stage of the game, not counting summoning weapons.
[doublepost=1521922966,1521922899][/doublepost]Oh wait, I think I read that wrong... Well, I want them to be obtainable pre-hardmode, the thing is with them that they can be upgraded by the player throughout the course of the game.
 
@I like space I thought a landline phone would be a good idea, since you'd be calling them, quite literally. You can't just summon people with some staff or something in real life d: (although, terraria isn't really that realistic of a game anyways lol)
[doublepost=1521935850,1521935769][/doublepost]And also the Cellphone already exists, so my only other option would be a flip-phone, aka what literally nobody uses anymore because they're like 90% obsolete now
 
@I like space I thought a landline phone would be a good idea, since you'd be calling them, quite literally. You can't just summon people with some staff or something in real life d: (although, terraria isn't really that realistic of a game anyways lol)
Does make sense, but there are some problems. What would the interface be like, how would you teleport NPCs to the area, and other small things.
 
My idea was something like a list on one side of the screen of the names of the allies, alongside an icon that shows what class they are, and when you click on it there'd be a thing that shows what gear they have on them, alongside an option to call them, guess I should've elaborated on that in the thread d:
 
My idea was something like a list on one side of the screen of the names of the allies, alongside an icon that shows what class they are, and when you click on it there'd be a thing that shows what gear they have on them, alongside an option to call them, guess I should've elaborated on that in the thread d:
So it's literally the starbound S.A.I.L interface?
 
Decent game, good potential, now, back to topic, IT's an interface where you go to your members of your crew, look at their jobs, and you can do stuff with em'
[doublepost=1521936276,1521936202][/doublepost]I'd honestly expect some sort of ancient-table thingy which displays the world in a nutshell :p
 
Ah, Makes sense. I've heard of it a quite few times, but never looked into it.
Kinda funny how my idea was so similar to the game that terraria is so often compared to lol
[doublepost=1521936358,1521936288][/doublepost]My original idea was something like a table as you said, but I thought a phone just made more sense d:
 
Starbound was actually made by a part of the team who quit terraria :p
[doublepost=1521936411,1521936379][/doublepost]So I'd expect a lot of similarities q:
 
(good idea)
Anyways, there also seems to be a bit little 'allies' for there to be a whole system into it. there should be atleast 1 for mostly every biome*

*And/or sub-biome
 
Yeah, I was just listing a few examples, I'd want it to be expanded on quite a bit if it was truly added to the game.

Also, I have an entire idea for a brand new area involving new bosses that relies quite heavily on the allies-system as stated in the post, but this was just the basic concept that I wanted to put out there.
 
I have too many ideas off the top of my head that my head started throbbing
[doublepost=1521937239,1521937163][/doublepost]oof "so many ideas" not "too many ideas"
 
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