Renown/reputation/honor

[van Veen]

Objective is to implement a repuation system to facilitate character development based upon achievements and conduct. The basic idea is that every action performed in game has an influence on your reputation and this, in turn, affects what a player can do within a certain nation.  The proposed system allows for highly non-linear character development. 

Honor

Each character has a global "honor" value. Honor increases when doing "good" things or decreases when doing "bad" things. Value range from -100 to +100. 

There is nothing wrong with being a bad guy, it's just... you know... you gotta face the consequences  

Examples for gaining/losing honor:

• +1 per friendly trader surviving a battle
• -2 attacking a neutral nation ship (requires nation diplomacy)
• -5 attacking a friendly nation ship (requires nation diplomacy)
• -1 entering enemy nation port
• +1 ... +3 per trade mission performed

Renown

Each character has a global "renown" value. Renown is a value to measure your fame. Ship permits and upgrades available in admiralty cost renown. Value range from 0 to +100. 

Whether you are a notorious pirate or a famous admiral, your renown runs before you. Your fame entitles you to take responsibility and get the resources you need for your adventures. 

Examples for gaining/losing renown:

• +1 ... +3 for surviving a battle against your odds (scales with BR ratio)
• +1 ... +3 sinking higher renown player (scales with renown difference)
• +1 capturing enemy ship
• +1 sinking enemy ship
• -1 losing a ship in combat
• -1 surrendering in combat

Example prices for items that cost renown:

• -1 3rd permit
• -3 2nd rate permit
• -8 1st rate permit
• -1 basic upgrade
• -3 medium upgrade
• -8 premium upgrade

Nation reputation

Each player has a reputation with each nation. Reputation increases when doing something for that nation or decreases for acting hostile to that nation. Value range from -200 to +100. 

Different nations might have a very different point of view who is in their favor and who is not. A captain famous for his achievements in his own nation might be well considered a pirate by another nation. 

• +1 per nation trader surviving a battle
• +1 port battle participation for a nation
• +3 winning port battle for a nation
• -5 attacking a ship of that nation
• -2 attacking an allied nation's ship
• +1 ... +3 per mission performed for that nation
• -5 sinking a ship of that nation
• +1 per enemy ship sunk
• -1 losing a ship in combat
• -1 surrendering in combat

• -10 attacking a ship of that nation when at peace (requires nation diplomacy)
• -30 attacking a ship of that nation when allied (requires nation diplomacy)
• -100 upon declaration of war (requires nation diplomacy)
• +100 upon declaration of peace (requires nation diplomacy)

What is affected by reputation

The admiralty won't support his nation's enemies, and it would not give command of a navy ship to a known rogue. Admiralty articles are only available with a minimum reputation requirement, minimum navy rank and potential minimum honor value. All articles in the admiralty are "paid" with renown, so your renown drops when you ask admiralty for something.

Also, navy ranks are "purchased" items from the admiralty. You need to have minimum reputation with that nation, need to spend renown and perhaps also need a minimum honor rating (at least for high navy ranks). 

The rationale is that only famous captains are granted permits, and when granted, they are expected to deliver results before they ask for the same favor again. 

Entering port, doing trade in town, creating a workshops, harvesting resources,... everything should require minimum reputation with the nation owning these assets, some might require honor to do trade. Enemies and pirates are not granted access to national assets. 

Nation reputation can go a long way when combined with a nation diplomacy status (war/peace/neutral/alliance) allowing complex relations with different nations. One character might be considered friendly by an otherwise neutral nation, another character might be considered hostile despite neutral status. Example: player of nation A attacks a ship from nation B, A and B are neutral. A is also neutral to C. B and C are hostile. Reputation towards A: no change (your nation does not care about attacking neutrals), B goes down (you attacked B), C goes up (you attacked C's enemy).

Pirates are basically players with low nation reputation and low honor. They simply do not get access to their national resources anymore (admiralty). When working for another nation, they gain reputation there and can eventually join that other nation's navy. Or they remain pirates and try to build up their own existence as an independent clan. 

Visibility

Renown, honor and reputation should be visible, e.g. in the info box when clicking on a player in open world. Maybe as a textual info like "famous", "infamous", "well known", "unknown", "notorious", "honorable"...

High renown players should be highlighted in OW so everyone sees there is a famous captain. High renown makes good flagship captains, but also good targets  

Upon reaching max value of renown, reputation or honor, player should receive a reward of some sort, a chest or something visible for everyone in OW (paint?). 

Long term goal

Combine this system with AI diplomacy. Add AI nation leaders that decide about war and peace depending on what players are actually doing. When attacked frequently by one nation, reputation of players with that nation goes down. AI observes this and might declare war as a reaction to those provocations. This way, character actions have an influence on war and peace as opposed to player attitudes (vote click diplomacy system). AI leaders have different preferences and react to the state of affairs differently, so people might find a nation that suits their playstyle. 

Aggressive AI could use the reputation to determine friend/foe. 

The reputation system should also be implemented for clans, not just players. This way, whole clans might become pirates and be declared enemy of the state. Add clan-to-clan reputation and you even get clan wars. The system is already there and can be expanded. 

The proposed system opens up dynamic, non-linear character development. It goes hand-in-hand with dynamic nations. It enhances deep personal game experience in an open sandbox where everything is allowed, but also every action has its consequences. 

[Celtiberofrog]

This is a good suggestion that has been repeated for the last 4 years in this forum...As it would entail more responsability to each player behavior in NA.  

Yours is well elaborated, let's hope it will be studied by Dev's.

[AeRoTR]

1 hour ago, Intrepido said:

Dont waste your time in proposals.

The release will happen in only a few months and devs have no time for fixing everything.

I am really mad to see this game going to release with very limited content. Good programmers, awful developers...

[van Veen]