FreeHolder Alpha 8 Hotfix 4

FreeHolder Alpha 8 Hotfix 4

5.31.2020

See dev notes below, if you're interested.

PLEASE NOTE

***Please note with the changes to map data from altering how bandits function, existing savegames will probably break. Unless you want to see some map tile weirdness for the sake of it, please purge your old save files. Due to the way that saving works in FreeHolder, this sort of thing is unfortunately unavoidable, at least for now.***

New Features

-Town Stability. New system is a replacement of old "bandit activity level." Also gives certain bonuses to town. See dev notes for more details. -Bandit Camps. In towns with very low stability, Bandit Camps appear and must be discovered and destroyed to allow stability to rise again. See dev notes for more details. -Militia Activity. In dire circumstances, the towns militia may act independently to defeat bandits and increase stability. -Raid action. Upon discovery of a bandit camp, you may launch a concerted attack to drive them off and greatly increase stability.

Changes

-Patrol has become Join Patrol. Now some town militia members will accompany you when fighting in patrol battles. You may assign them however you wish to the battle formation, and control them as if they were mercenaries. -Town reputation increase from bandit battles is now determined by "assist XP system" and no longer random. -"Encounter table" now determines what bandits are fought based on stability level of town -Failure to defeat a patrol or camp no longer increases bandit activity (i.e. does not lower stability) -Assaulting to take over a town has been temporarily removed (it will be back in a new, more realistic form with factions later)

Developer Notes

Bandits, Order, and Stability

In preparation for mid and late game systems, and also because it is just badly in need of an overhaul, I have replaced the old, numerical (though the numbers were hidden) system of bandit activity with a specifically tiered system of town stability, which will determine how likely you are to face bandit groups, and an "encounter table" determining which specific enemies you will face based on this, plus a random die roll determining whether you rolled the common, uncommon, and rare type (rarer is stronger).

Each tier has a chance of getting worse based on the size of town - generally towns and cities are more attractive to bandits, as they have greater resources to steal. In addition, towns do have a chance of taking militia action and increasing stability themselves, this is more likely with hilltowns and cities, who have stronger and more active militias, and will only be done when stability is at minimum or near minimum. But this does mean towns are not guaranteed to simply collapse into chaos if you do not choose to engage bandits in your playthrough.

The "town stability" has an upside as well - more peaceful towns with very low bandit activity will send more goods to the market, including a special bonus good at maximum stability, referred to as "Prosperous" status. On the downside, particularly chaotic towns will send less and then no goods to the market. Please note that the special bonus good for some towns is a placeholder until a few more things are implemented in the game, including olive orchards, vineyards, oil and wine presses, and bricks. The "prosperous" good will be a placeholder until then, usually something useful and not native to that town type (stone from timbercraft towns, for example).

Of particular note now is that "Patrol" has become "Join