[WIP] The Settlement of Unity

Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 3:12 am

Just a little something I've been working on. :D

EDIT: I've been working on this mod on-again-off-again for a long time now, and I've realised that I can't do it alone anymore. So, I've decided to upload my stuff to http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14646. If you can script, sort out AI, can navmesh or are good with quests, please post here or on the Nexus page and show me what you can do, and I'll merge it into the main .esp file. It's called Unity, so it's only fitting it be a community effort! :D
One thing in particular I'd like help with, is the first quest, "Once Upon A Time In The Wasteland", where the player enters Unity for the first time and has to clear out the raiders. The player has to kill the four raider lieutenants (Wez, Nix, Gasket and Snake Eyes) so that the other raiders make a run for it, at which point Washburne will thank the player and start the second quest, "Is There A Doctor In The House?", where you have to tend to the wounded villagers.
However, the four lieutenants aren't immediately hostile: Gasket's having a smoke behind the (soon to be) player's home/infirmary, Nix is on the toilet (the Pulowski chamber has a loo in it!), Snake Eyes is in the strip club having a drink, and Wez is... well, I don't know what Wez is doing just yet. Ideas?

If someone can help me so that the lieutenants only attack when you get really close (when you open the toilet door in the case of Nix), and when you get within, say, five feet of Gasket. Snake Eyes will talk to the player first, and then attack, which I can do easily enough. :)

And like I said, if someone can help with the other stuff (navmeshing is probably the most important at the moment), that'd be great.

In the summer of '69 a starving, dehydrated (former) Enclave pilot staggered into the ruins of an ancient, suburban metro station. A recent carpet-bombing of a local tribal village had (thanks in part to the dozens of previous carpet bombings) left a bad taste in his mouth, and under cover of darkness, he fled from Raven Rock and being completely unprepared for the harshness of the Capital Wasteland, collapsed on top of a pile of old boxes in the office of the Metro station's robotic ticket master. Fumbling blindly in the dark, he reached for a nearby pile of warm rags, and was a little disturbed to find them smelling faintly of sweat. They were also green. And not rags at all, but an arm.

"Jumpin' Jehosaphat!" screeched the Enclave pilot, as bolted upright and noticed an unpleasant warm sensation coming from his pants.

"Keep it down, will ya? I'm tryin' to sleep," grumbled the owner of the green arm, "bleeders these days... no respect!"

After changing into a fresh pair of pants (well, an old newspaper wrapped around his groin, anyway), the Enclave pilot was surprised to find that he wasn't killed. Yet, anyway.

"Name's Charlie", said the super mutant, lazily picking earwax with his pinkie finger.

"W-w-washburne", stammered the Enclave pilot.

As the years went by, Charlie and Washburne grew to be the best of friends, and slowly but surely, a village began to sprout in and above the Metro station, which proved a safe haven for ghouls, smoothskins and even the occasional super mutant, provided they behaved themselves. Washburne, knowing a thing or two (not really) about super mutants "back west", decided to name the town "Unity", which he felt was a fitting name for a town with such a diverse population.


One thing I've noticed about Fallout 3, is that it appears to work uder the assumption that your character at least knows something about medicine. Makes sense, being James' kid and all. It stands to reason that in your 19 years on this planet, Dad would've taught you a thing or two about doctorin'.
Unfortunately, outside of healing Reilly and Timebomb, you don't really have an opportunity to practice your craft on anyone. Until now!

When you first arrive in Unity, there's a firefight between the town's guards (lead by Charlie) and a band of raiders calling themselves the Highwaymen. After busting a few heads, the raiders realise that they're outmatched and make a run for it. There's the occasional dead villager lying around, but there's even more wounded. With a successful Medicine check, you can patch up the injured townsfolk, netting you some good karma and a couple of caps from the mayor, Washburne.
Washburne then offers you the position of Unity's doctor, and allows you to set up shop in a nearby building, which then doubles as a player home.

In addition to being hired as the town's doctor, Charlie, who also runs the local Water Merchants, needs some caravan guards. He's rigged up a pipe from a nearby water tower, which runs into the town's water treatment plant, where it gets purified, bottled and passed around to residents who need a drink, free of charge. However, Charlie also sends out caravans to sell the water to nearby towns (Canterbury Commons and Springvale, to name two), but the Highwaymen don't make it easy.
There's four guards you can recruit, but only two trade routes. This means you have to hire one guard for each route (anything more is, in Charlie's words, a "logistical nightmare"), so two guards don't make the cut. Each guard is best-suited for one route, and will die pretty quickly on the wrong route. However, Charlie says that as long as you provide your own supplies, you're more than welcome to guard the caravans. He'll pay you, too, though if a guard dies, he'll pay you less, and without a water merchant or brahmin, the whole route's pointless, so you won't get paid at all in such a situation.

Finally, there's one last job you can take up, and that's courier work. Each town in the Capital Wasteland which doesn't already, will have a mail dropbox with Unity installed, and you'll find letters in Unity's own mailbox that need delivering to the various settlements. All you do, is take the mail, drop it in the appropriate town's mailbox, and report back to Unity for your pay. You can read people's mail, too, though this results in a small karma loss.

Other quests include "A Fistful of Caps" (a treasure hunt-type quest), exterminating some radroaches that have been plaguing the Metro (which turn out to be someone's pets! Not to worry, he begins raising radscorpions soon afterwards), defending the town's Mutfruit crops (thanks, http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=11900) from some feral ghouls (albeit harmless, vegetarian ones), clearing out a local Highwaymen hideout, helping some Brotherhood Outcasts gain access to a local Vault, choosing sides in a feud between said Vault's inhabitants, and a little quest I like to call "Unfriendly Competition", which should be familiar to any http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Killian_Darkwater fans here.

So, lots to do!

In addition, I'll be implementing a basic reputation system, with some inspiration taken from Fallout: New Vegas (using Perks that affect people's reactions to you and so on), and the possibility to suffer from a new kind of addiction and much, much worse, for recieving the services of the local prosttutes one too many times.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m43/danburite/ScreenShot7-2.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m43/danburite/ScreenShot8-2.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m43/danburite/ScreenShot11-2.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m43/danburite/ScreenShot13-2.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m43/danburite/ScreenShot14-2.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m43/danburite/ScreenShot17-1.jpg (thanks, http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10607- not included)
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m43/danburite/ScreenShot18-1.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m43/danburite/ScreenShot20.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m43/danburite/ScreenShot22-1.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m43/danburite/Screenie1.jpg. People live in the http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10240, btw. ;)
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m43/danburite/Screenie2.jpg

ANYWAY, the one thing I need help with at the moment, is I can't for the life of me figure out a fun way to implement the doctor job. Should residents just randomly approach you, or should there be more to it? Any suggestions?

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT'S DUE:
(everything here should be a modder's resource, if something isn't, if the author could shoot me a PM I'll try to sort it out :D)

Coonskin hat by blue_fox: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=11983
Armored Leather Jacket by d_ivanov: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=9877
Mutfruit plants also by d_ivanov: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=11900
Lightweight Leather Armor by captain-ultima (who also made the alpha-capable mesh for the Water Merchants sign!): http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=13688
Armored Regulator Duster from Tailor Maid by sin7188: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5424
Football helmet/armor by Andersh: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7918
Dance animations by umpa: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=634
Raider grafitti by KDStudios: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12107
Bunkers by cpoCurtis: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=13742
Ghouls and Super Mutants (modified by me) and raider leather armor by tubajamba: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/modules/members/index.php?id=1196961
Subway cars by bunsaki: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10240
Vault Raider armour by TheTalkieToaster: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14075
Hoy's Chow sign by Tubal.
Outcast scribe/specialist robe (just a lookalike of the Anchorage version) by theLeeHarvey: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10398
User avatar
Ice Fire
 
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Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 3:27 am

Post » Fri Feb 18, 2011 9:29 pm

This looks pretty cool.

I'll have to make a doctor character for the first time ever. Something akin to a field medic, I suppose. Trust me, when I reconsider a character build, it's a major thing because I like tried and true builds. I can't wait!
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Marcin Tomkow
 
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Post » Fri Feb 18, 2011 8:41 pm

What about house visits? A bit old-fashioned, but this is a qausi '50's after all.
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Marcia Renton
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 4:27 am

What about house visits? A bit old-fashioned, but this is a qausi '50's after all.


House visits could work. :)
The thing is, how do I implement them without it becoming tedious and boring?
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lexy
 
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Post » Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:25 pm

But that's what work is. Tedious and boring. It should just be a simple affair of going to the target's house, activating dialogue with the target and selecting a "House Call" topic. Then, just make an hour or two pass and the player gets his little sum of caps and goes back to his house. Or to the next patient/job/whatever.

I really...really...really...need sleep.
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Jonathan Egan
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 1:54 am

Any screenshots of the Super Mutent NPC's?

Are they the smarter Greenskinned Super Muties from out west? or more along the lines of Falkes and Uncle Leo from here in DC?
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Wayne W
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 7:14 am

House visits could work. :)
The thing is, how do I implement them without it becoming tedious and boring?


Have a 5% chance that a normal house visit turns into a quest. Have multiple quests and let luck decide which one the player gets.
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Rachel Cafferty
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 2:21 am

I made a post in an old suggestion thread on how you could implement jobs simply:
You could do this (relatively) easily via a dialogue system. After getting a job you Use a punch clock somewhere that starts a randomized conversation with you. Each reply you give would be in response to some problem, and there would be skill checks to see if you succeed. Every time you use it player control is disabled, timescale is increased (a lot) and a day (or maybe 8 hours) is spooled forwards.
For example as a doctor: A patient is sick with radiation poisoning. Do you
  • [Medicine] Treat the patient.
  • Use Rad-Away
  • Do nothing (No pay)

As a Tenpenny guard: A ghoul or wastelander comes begging for water, do you:
  • [Hand-to-hand] Throw the beggar out.
  • Kill the beggar (Lowers Karma)
  • Give water to the beggar (Loose Purified Water)

There's a million more, the hard part is getting the system to work to begin with. I have no experience with dialogue. :)


Too simple? :)
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vanuza
 
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Post » Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:17 pm

I made a post in an old suggestion thread on how you could implement jobs simply:

Too simple? :)


That's actually a pretty nifty idea. I like it. :D

As for Hopalongtom's question, I'm going with east coast-style muties ala Fawkes and Leo. Originally they were west coast muties, but I don't feel as though they'd really make sense in the Capital Wasteland. Besides, without giving too much away, Charlie actually has a really interesting backstory. There's only two mutants in the town, and one is about as smart as Fawkes and Leo, while the other is classic Vault 87-style stupid. So stupid in fact, that he's too dumb to be dangerous, and sort of unwittingly becomes a big brother-type to the town's orphaned kids. ;D
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Laura Tempel
 
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Post » Sat Feb 19, 2011 1:38 am

Bump, as I'm allowing all you fine people to download it and perhaps get some team members involved to help me out with some things mentioned in my first post. :)
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Glu Glu
 
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