Hmmm...joinable bandit faction!!!!

Technically you shouldn't know people's names to begin with

That would be pretty cool, guess we'll just have to see whats in the actual game. I mean why would bandits completely seperate and stay secluded large distances away from each other? Maybe we'll see what you've suggested and I sure hope we do

The bandits and marauders acted pretty much like any other NPC before they made that last decision to mess you up and I read plenty of notes adding background to the lives I had just ended. I agree with the fellows who say radiant AI will equally enhance any NPC, be it a cave dweller or a prince.

I always wondered about that, that people in caves didn't appear to do anything but hang around waiting for invaders to pop in. The city folk definitely had more of a life than cave dwellers, at least you would see them eating and sleeping and so on. I agree it would be great if they did more. And having enemies attack in groups of three or more would certainly add a sense of realism to the game, but then how realistic is it for your character to dispose of all 3 of them on his own?? Haha

Lol. You walk into a cave and see a bunch of "bandits" and your Nord warrior kills them all with out hesitation. Then you find a diary explaining how a family lost their home to dragon fire and had to take up residence in a cave!

I agree...Bandits are delicious people too!

And that, I think, is the whole point. In Oblivion Bandits and Necromancers are soulless evildoers who we - the heroes - can kill in their hundreds without pity or remorse. If they are given personalities and reasonable reasons for doing what they are doing, a moral dilemma is introduced. If a bandit (or a band of bandits) are stealing to feed their families, killing them would stop the income of the family, ultimately resulting in their deaths from starvation. Or what if the bandit were pushed into thieving by an oppressive and unjust ruler? TES is set in a feudal society, after all. Adding real options to interact with bandits (or other "villains") would be nice, possibly with an outlaw questline. You know, if you should happen to get caught doing crime and escape the law?

On a side note. In Oblivion, if your total worth were less than the 100 septims the highwaymen wanted, they would actually let you go.

I would at the very least like this, excluding the name part seeing how they will respawn (I hope). Maybe if you are really infamous, they will have heard of you and will let you enter without fighting. But as soon as you draw a weapon or go someplace they don't want you too the all attack. That way a player will probably not want to do it when in their hideout. Killing 1-2 bandits at a time on the way to their loot is simple enough. Trying to take the loot and being attacked by ever bandit at the same time is not the same story, unless you are a higher level than they are. Plus it would be nice to have access to a bed and food on the road, provided you made friends with them.

Edit: Sociopaths are pretty evil. A true sociopath does not feel shame, guilt, or remorse. They will use you until you are not needed, then cast you aside. They will con their way into getting anything they want. They practically cannot feel any kind of emotional pain. They will lie to you, trick you, steal, and do whatever else they want to achieve their own desires. If it comes down to it, a sociopath will kill you if they think there is a good enough chance to get away with it and you are a threat to them.

I, for one, wouldn't want to take these decisions every time I enter a dungeon.

Edit: Of course, exceptions can be made, but generally speaking, I say keep the stereotypes. It was enough that they had schedules.

I'd like for them to have names as in Morrowind. To fight a generic 'bandit archer' just dehumanises them to the point where I don't feel any guilt or remorse in striking down a fellow man/mer pitilessly like just another rabid dog.

Yes I know the difficulties of naming respawning enemies and all that, but It'd be quite interesting if enemy names were drawn from a huge list of possible names (racially specific of course) so that: a ) your enemies are named, and thus real people and not just wild enemies, b ) you'll never fight the same enemy twice, which is a small but significant touch to add replayability to the game.

with radiant Ai i cannot see why they could not add a random name generator to the game for bandits, i would like them to have some human like traits to them for say in their hideout they could have guard duty and talk to each other about the news they hear going on in Skyrim, if towns folk can hear it why can't bandits,the last thing i would like is traveling caravans like FO3 and FONV and possibly just random people on the roads then have bandits and highwaymen trying to raid these said caravans and people.

the TIE mod added schedules to the bandits and mauraders. made them less predictable.

I didn't know that until I restarted my Healer, and she bumped into the Highwayman near Anvil.

I was so relieved, you wouldn't imagine.

Agreed.



I play a mod in Oblivion that adds people to highways and adventurers to caves. So I can be creeping through a cave, see a shadow up ahead, and shoot them with my bow, just to get the sneak attack benefit. Then I find out they're actually not a bandit/marauder/whatever. But they wear armor and look just like them?

It always makes me feel a bit frustrated and sad.



Um, what about: "That's okay, this one will kill you for free." There was only a chance they would let you go.

*******
Overall, I like the OP's idea, because I like to roleplay. But I'm seeing a lot of "ideas" on this forum without any speculation on how they might be implemented.

If you've done any modding at all, you know that schedules and pathing can take hours to implement in a way that doesn't have that "robot" or clockwork feel. And pathing conflicts cause the game the crash. Exterior cell pathing - or taking a bandit out of an interior cell to go home or whatever - caused a number of headaches and crashes and problems, which is probably why it wasn't implemented. I thought Oblivion achieved this very well, when the work and implementation is considered. Bandits would eat, sleep, walk around, talk.

Sure, there are a lot of things I'd love to see in the game. But most of those things will wait until someone invents the holodeck.

~ Dani ~

This.

I hate how in Oblivion you would just find them standing around all the time guarding the same area, even at the dead of night. They never slept or nothing. It would be a lot more realistic and awesome for stealth characters if they made improvements in this area

They shouldn't have schedules, they should have purpose. They shouldn't just be waiting around for you to slaughter them. Bandits should be actively looking out for targets, setting up ambushes, and be arrested and so on. Necromancers and such should be making potions and kidnapping people, and there should also be the possibility for disagreements and in-fighting in there group.

"I saw a mudcrab yesterday... it tasted foul, what did you do", "I killed a Dark Elf and she only had 20 gold :confused: "

Well.. i do remember having some interaction with them. Sometimes they would come out of the bushes and demand you gold and it would usually lead to a fight if you decided not to give them anything. About the camps.. well, its not quite like fallout but in fallout when you saw someone in the wasteland there was a good chance it was something that wanted to kill you, so usually it was best to shot 1st and ask later if you know what i mean :tongue:. I do like the idea of maybe a bit more dialogue option when you run up to does bandits that give you a chance to give them gold like some sort of persuading conversation where you try to talk things out telling the bandit that it would be best for him not to mess with you, or you could just be a cold blooded barbarian and smack him in the face directly :flame:. Also giving names could be nice.. its always different when your killing something with a name that just a titled mob. Good Post!

"Moving on, Aerinor has suggested that to improve our effectiviness we start wearing uniforms to make us more menacing. All votes in favor? Okay, motion passed. We'll appoint Flonk and Tarlin to get some tentative designs ready for vote at the next meeting. Next order of business, Ashnak has a suggestion regarding foodstocks and particularly stubborn, ah, 'clients'...."

:rofl:

I don't get why they should have names. They are just as ignorant to your identity (probably, maybe not if you are champion of Cyrodil), and since they attack on sight as well (which I think is pretty normal behaviour for thugs living in caves spotting an intruder) it seems reasonable to attack them. And no, you won't know their names, their family situation, economic motivation or anything like that, but would you really want to take a decision with things like that in mind everytime enter a dungeon? I wouldn't...

I certainly agree with you regarding the camps but when you run to does ambushers where you actually have a chance of talking with them it wouldn't hurt to have a bit more conversation where you could try to persuade them to give up, this would give more moral options instead of just having the determined destiny to fight every thug you meet.

Of course there is always room for exceptions with some scripted bandits with a story and such, but I don't mind the random encounters with people who are simply 'bad guys' being the majority.

It's an interesting definition, but if you tried to actually apply it universally, you would find that either we're all evil, or no one is.

Don't know if you need to give them all schedules, but doing other things besides standing around and walking would be nice. And if they talked to each other about something related to who they are would be a nice addition. Kind of like the mages in OB's Arcane University in the IC. Sometimes two would talk about research they were conducting.