Improved Random Events & Coming Up With New Random Events

[Computica]

I'm gonna have to rewrite all the random events as the coding for them seriously suck. It's possible to run into freezing problems with the current code. But I'm seriously overhauling the code. I want decisions to be varied and have good and bad effects; benefits and consequences to them. People don't always make bad or wrong decisions all the time to just be mean. So I'm being more logical the way decisions are handled. For instance if you remember this from SOD Gold, here's my improved version:
High Tax Triggered Random Event:
Q: My {King/Queen}, high taxes are causing people to leave {Town/Village}.
A: Lower the tax rate.
Outcome: Set Town or Villages taxes to low. +1 Relation bonus.

A: Lower the tax rate a lot.
Outcome: Set Town or Villages taxes to very low. +2 Relation bonus.

A: Bribe them to stay. (Possible to pay from treasury)
Outcome: Prevent people from leaving but pay for the bribe.

A: They are my property and they can't leave without my permission. Send guards to prevent them from leaving. [Kingdom Policy: Serfdom]
Outcome: Receive honor and/or relation penalty depending on your kingdom policy. So if policy is mostly serfs you only receive a small relation penalty. If mostly free then you receive a big penalty to honor and relation.

A: Let them leave then.
Outcome: Let some of the population leave (based on current relationship). In return you have a relationship boost because the people who don't like your rule left.

Every current Random event will receive a complete logical overhaul or be completely removed. I never liked the more mature oriented random events that deal with things like rape so I'm bent on removing them completely.

I'd like for you all to post any suggestions for random events. They can be decisions made on and off the field; ones about being a vassal for a king or being your own king. Some of them can lead you into fights or make a village riot against you. Heck we can make up some pertaining to your spouse if we wanted. Please post your ideas.

The random events will be finished before the next 3.x is released.

 

[Daedelus_McGee]

Religious Tolerance. 
1. The level of faith is causing non-believers to leave your kingdom and preventing new people from joining.

Decision: Post "Guards of the Faithful" to prevent departures of the heathens and send "Missionaries" to bring in new converts.
Result: Pay more for "holy" garrisons of troops that cannot be used on campaign and do not defend the cities. Population remains the same. Relationship within the kingdom decreases.  Trade withers. Relationship with other kingdoms sharply diminishes.  Quality of recruited troops decreases without increasing quantity.

Decision: Let them leave, this kingdom is dedicated to the holy cause.
Result: Population decreases. Relationship within the kingdom remains the same. Trade withers slightly.  Relationship with nearby kingdoms remains the same.

Decision: Let people of all faiths be part of the kingdom. 
Result: Population remains the same. Relationship within the kingdom diminishes. Trade remains the same. Relationship with nearby kingdoms increases slightly.

Decision: Welcome people of all faiths within your kingdom so long as they tolerate others. Post guards to ensure that no faith persecutes others.
Result: Pay money for troops who can not deploy, but gain extra militia upon invasion. Population increase strongly. Number of non-believers increase with the population increase.  Relationship within the kingdom increases.  Trade increases strongly. Relationship with other kingdoms increases. Quality of troops recruited increases without diminishing quantity.

I believe it is inevitable that religious intolerance invites failure because it denies rational feedback.  Some choices are just bad. History backs me up on this.

I think this might matter more for multiplayer and later game stages. It does let you set up some AI kingdoms that are fanatic.  There are more moving parts you can add to this.

 

[Daedelus_McGee]

Commerce.

Situation: Guild Master implores you to help protect caravans that are beset by hordes of brigands and bandits resulting from wars in neighboring kingdoms.

Decision: Field troops from your garrisons to increase protection of your caravans. 
Result: Caravans become beefier. Increase in prosperity. Pay additional wages for troops in the field.  Garrisons are reduced in size. Improved relations with neighboring kingdoms.  Increased relations with Towns.  Pesky villains (Not necessarily Villianese.) are reduced and eliminated.

Decision: Hire mercenaries to assist in protecting commerce.
Result: Pay for mercenaries at 2/3rds rate of full because they are there mostly to ward, not to storm. Caravans become beefier.  Increase in prosperity.  Garrisons remain intact.  Improved relations with neighboring kingdoms.  Increased relations with Towns.  Pesky villains (Not necessarily Villianese.) are reduced and eliminated.

Decision: Deploy a patrol to protect caravans.
Result: Pay for patrol. Caravans become beefier.  Increase in prosperity.  Decreased relations with neighboring kingdoms. (Why are you sending obvious spies onto my lands.)  Increased relations with Towns.  Pesky villains (Not necessarily Villianese.) are reduced and eliminated.

Decision: Raise taxes to pay for additional protection provided.
Result: Pay for additional troops. Caravans become beefier.  Modest increase in prosperity.  Decreased relations with neighboring kingdoms. No change in relations with Towns.  Pesky villains (Not necessarily Villianese.) are reduced and eliminated.

Decision: Deny the request and let the merchant hire their own protection.
Result: Caravans stay the same.  Decrease in prosperity.  Decreased relations with Towns.  Pesky villains flourish.

There is considerable room for tweaking this and adding layers.  I've wanted to be able to better protect caravans for some time. 

 

[Computica]

These are very good Daedelus! Everyone else should follow suit. I'll find ways to implement both of these.

 

[Gafgar]

Every current Random event will receive a complete logical overhaul or be completely removed. I never liked the more mature oriented random events that deal with things like rape so I'm bent on removing them completely.

I don't remember any events like that.

 

[Daedelus_McGee]

Refugees.
This might call for alteration to the population limits and other changes for certain kinds of implementation.  Currently, there is a tight market for people because all of Ponovosa functions as a boomtown economy.  There are historical examples of this, however. The Alsace region on the border of France and the German principalities was depopulated by the ravages of the Thirty Years War and was repopulated by Swiss colonists.  This provided the landholders to obtain industrious settlers who were incredibly dangerous with pikes.  Colonists were valued similar to the way they are in 3.0B

With the advent of modern medicine, populations have become easy to generate, and displacement of undesirables has become a problem.  In the Vanilla M&B, there were hordes of refugee troops that showed up as "Deserters" to represent this as a problem.  The economy of 3.0B made villagers desirable because they readily converted to useful troops.  It is possible to have cultures that never evolve into quality troops and remain cannon-fodder only.  This is best represented in 3.0B by the looters. 

Situation: Large numbers of refugees from the mainland are landing. Some of them want to settle, but there is resistance by the local workers who are afraid they will lose their jobs or get paid less.

Decision: Hold the line and refuse the outlanders.
Result: Increase the number of patrols with associated costs for troops in the field. Looter parties increase in size and frequency. Relation with guilds decreases.  Relations with villages improves. Relations with lords decreases.  Economy suffers slightly. Village and Town populations increase less.

Decision: Welcome the new recruits willing to serve in the military. 
Result: Receive additional unsolicited recruits (It would be handy to have a generic peasant, but I'm less certain how hard that is to program.) Relations with guilds, villages, and towns remains the same. Relations with lords increase slightly. Economy increases slightly. Village and Town populations increase more. Deserters increase slightly in frequency.

Decision: Welcome the new residents.
Result: Village and town populations increase significantly until full, then looter parties spawn more frequently. Village relations decrease. Guild and town relations increase.  Lord relations increase.  Village bandit infestations increase. Economy increases.

In reality, refugee populations are not a major problem except in irrational economies, especially dictatorships.  For example, South Korea is refusing to open their country to North Korean immigrants because they have good reason to believe that they will suddenly have to deal with millions of deeply traumatized individuals with no material wealth and extensive psychotic problems. The problems of refugees in the real world is something that needs to be modeled in the mod quite delicately.

 

[Daedelus_McGee]

Crime Wave.

Situation: A large number of crimes are occurring.

Somebody else can write this, although I can imagine a dozen different scenarios for how this came about, I'm tired from working extra shifts so I'm throwing it out as a gift to the community.

 

[vir]

old/rusty euipment in party

dection:going to blacksmith to fix any broken equipment
result:party troops stop complaninh about old/rusty equipment

decition:give the troops new euipment
result:troops will stop complaining about old/rusty equipment and temporery increase morale

decition:taking parts from other equipment that currecly in inventory
result:stop the troops from complaining but gives temporery morale pentely(denpents on the equipment in the inventory that they took)

decition:ignore the troops
result:party morale lowers (pantly like the debt penatly)
if keep ignoring troops will spawn without some equipment or with rusty equipment

 

[Computica]

Crime Wave.

Situation: A large number of crimes are occurring.

Somebody else can write this, although I can imagine a dozen different scenarios for how this came about, I'm tired from working extra shifts so I'm throwing it out as a gift to the community.

This is actually a really good one Daedelus. I can make up the rest.

old/rusty euipment in party

Vir I see what you ere aiming for but I can see this done better towards your companions or vassals since I can actually check the items they are equipped with.

Refugees.

This one is golden!

SN: The fun thing about random events is that they are sorta like mini quests then side quests. Stickied!

 

[Daedelus_McGee]

Extortion Gifts.

Situation: A messenger from one of the ladies you are seeing comes to you and remarks that Lady Whatshername is ever so eager to go riding with you, but her favorite steed has come up lame and she simply cannot go out with the nags left in the stables while her guardian is away putting barbarians to the sword. 

Result of gift: Increase in relationship equal to 1/1,000 of the price of the horse.

Situation: Lord Whoever is need of a particular set of balanced arms to make a good showing in the field, and everybody knows you have such a fine collection of arms that you would be willing to share to help gain favor.

Situation: Lady Whatshername is simply appalled about the condition of the linens in the castle her husband has just captured.  At least [X] bolts of linen must be brought out immediately or she will never be able to help you with your little problems at court anymore.

Situation: The Village Elder says that because of a bad harvest the annual date-throwing festival will have to be cancelled, unless you can provide us with [X] bushels of dates.

 

[Daedelus_McGee]

Evil Spirits in the Woods

Situation: The Village Elder sends a message informing you that charcoal burners near one of your villages have been driven out of the woods by "Evil Spirits".  He give you a vague description of the area affected and asks you to drive them out because you are known to be so holy.

When you arrive at the location, you find more Villianese Elite troops than you and your companions really expected.  In fact this appears to be a very serious attempt on your life.

 

[vir]

situation:a massnger comes to you and say that the elder send him to tell you that there is bad harvest and he needss help

option 1:hire experts that will help the villge to make more harvest

option 2:go to enemy villge and kidnnap a farmers and slave them to work in the x villge (you lose hounor and reletionship) and hire X guards to make sure they wont escape

option 3:ignore the request

option 4:take some of your prisoners and tell them work for that villge for X days then go free or die!

btw maby u can add the option of building fields in villge
or bringing seeds to a x villge and tell the elder to plant the seeds (i mean telling the elder to start growing diffrent harvest grain\wool\graps)

 

[Daedelus_McGee]

btw maby u can add the option of building fields in villge
or bringing seeds to a x villge and tell the elder to plant the seeds (i mean telling the elder to start growing diffrent harvest grain\wool\graps)

One of the reasons olive branches are used as a symbol for peace is that it takes generations to get olive trees to grow to the proper height for untended cultivation.  Olive shrubs are quite productive...if you vigilantly exterminate all vermin with a taste for olive fruits.

I'd really love to build crop production, but some crops are less rapid in their development. Since our time scale is measured in days, not seasons, there are some reality issues that crop up.

 

[Gafgar]

I'd really love to build crop production, but some crops are less rapid in their development. Since our time scale is measured in days, not seasons, there are some reality issues that crop up.

Why stress that part? This isn't a farming simulator that requires 100% realism. If individual crops are added, give each their own levels of payout - olives can start with no profits at first, but slowly build up to having one of the highest payouts.

 

[vir]

btw maby u can add the option of building fields in villge
or bringing seeds to a x villge and tell the elder to plant the seeds (i mean telling the elder to start growing diffrent harvest grain\wool\graps)

One of the reasons olive branches are used as a symbol for peace is that it takes generations to get olive trees to grow to the proper height for untended cultivation.  Olive shrubs are quite productive...if you vigilantly exterminate all vermin with a taste for olive fruits.

I'd really love to build crop production, but some crops are less rapid in their development. Since our time scale is measured in days, not seasons, there are some reality issues that crop up.

maby he can do a seasons like in X months there will be winter and rain will drop more often

 

[Sir OnuSetallis]

Commerce.

Situation: Guild Master implores you to help protect caravans that are beset by hordes of brigands and bandits resulting from wars in neighboring kingdoms.

Decision: Field troops from your garrisons to increase protection of your caravans. 
Result: Caravans become beefier. Increase in prosperity. Pay additional wages for troops in the field.  Garrisons are reduced in size. Improved relations with neighboring kingdoms.  Increased relations with Towns.  Pesky villains (Not necessarily Villianese.) are reduced and eliminated.

Decision: Hire mercenaries to assist in protecting commerce.
Result: Pay for mercenaries at 2/3rds rate of full because they are there mostly to ward, not to storm. Caravans become beefier.  Increase in prosperity.  Garrisons remain intact.  Improved relations with neighboring kingdoms.  Increased relations with Towns.  Pesky villains (Not necessarily Villianese.) are reduced and eliminated.

Decision: Deploy a patrol to protect caravans.
Result: Pay for patrol. Caravans become beefier.  Increase in prosperity.  Decreased relations with neighboring kingdoms. (Why are you sending obvious spies onto my lands.)  Increased relations with Towns.  Pesky villains (Not necessarily Villianese.) are reduced and eliminated.

Decision: Raise taxes to pay for additional protection provided.
Result: Pay for additional troops. Caravans become beefier.  Modest increase in prosperity.  Decreased relations with neighboring kingdoms. No change in relations with Towns.  Pesky villains (Not necessarily Villianese.) are reduced and eliminated.

Decision: Deny the request and let the merchant hire their own protection.
Result: Caravans stay the same.  Decrease in prosperity.  Decreased relations with Towns.  Pesky villains flourish.

There is considerable room for tweaking this and adding layers.  I've wanted to be able to better protect caravans for some time.

Decision 1 and 3 contradict each other, both include the same tactic of using the kingdom's troops to help the caravans. Although Decision 3 actually has a set patrol, why does Decision 1 increase relations with neighboring kingdoms when Decision 3 decreases them? If the neighboring kingdoms thought that the patrols could be spies, wouldn't they also think the kingdom troops you sent along with the caravans could be spies? Just trying to throw that out there, it seems wrong to me.

 

[Daedelus_McGee]

Commerce.

Situation: Guild Master implores you to help protect caravans that are beset by hordes of brigands and bandits resulting from wars in neighboring kingdoms.

Decision: Field troops from your garrisons to increase protection of your caravans. 
Result: Caravans become beefier. Increase in prosperity. Pay additional wages for troops in the field.  Garrisons are reduced in size. Improved relations with neighboring kingdoms.  Increased relations with Towns.  Pesky villains (Not necessarily Villianese.) are reduced and eliminated.

Decision: Hire mercenaries to assist in protecting commerce.
Result: Pay for mercenaries at 2/3rds rate of full because they are there mostly to ward, not to storm. Caravans become beefier.  Increase in prosperity.  Garrisons remain intact.  Improved relations with neighboring kingdoms.  Increased relations with Towns.  Pesky villains (Not necessarily Villianese.) are reduced and eliminated.

Decision: Deploy a patrol to protect caravans.
Result: Pay for patrol. Caravans become beefier.  Increase in prosperity.  Decreased relations with neighboring kingdoms. (Why are you sending obvious spies onto my lands.)  Increased relations with Towns.  Pesky villains (Not necessarily Villianese.) are reduced and eliminated.

Decision: Raise taxes to pay for additional protection provided.
Result: Pay for additional troops. Caravans become beefier.  Modest increase in prosperity.  Decreased relations with neighboring kingdoms. No change in relations with Towns.  Pesky villains (Not necessarily Villianese.) are reduced and eliminated.

Decision: Deny the request and let the merchant hire their own protection.
Result: Caravans stay the same.  Decrease in prosperity.  Decreased relations with Towns.  Pesky villains flourish.

There is considerable room for tweaking this and adding layers.  I've wanted to be able to better protect caravans for some time.

Decision 1 and 3 contradict each other, both include the same tactic of using the kingdom's troops to help the caravans. Although Decision 3 actually has a set patrol, why does Decision 1 increase relations with neighboring kingdoms when Decision 3 decreases them? If the neighboring kingdoms thought that the patrols could be spies, wouldn't they also think the kingdom troops you sent along with the caravans could be spies? Just trying to throw that out there, it seems wrong to me.

Decision one sends troops inside the caravans as part of a trading party.  Decision three sends an armed band of non-traders into other people's kingdoms.  Decision one says I don't trust the roads, decision three says I have the right to impose order in your kingdom with my army.

 

[Sir OnuSetallis]

I understand that part, but I'm just saying that sending any kingdom troops might be considered as an attempt at spying to neighboring kingdoms.

 

[Daedelus_McGee]

I understand that part, but I'm just saying that sending any kingdom troops might be considered as an attempt at spying to neighboring kingdoms.

Are you saying diplomatic protocol has to make sense?  I realize that this mod is intentionally non-historical, but insisting that diplomacy is consistent and makes sense is frankly bizarre! 

Strong caravans have the lump of sugar called commerce to help make the medicine go down.  Patrols from another kingdom, showing for all the world to see that you do not control your hinterlands, is just too much to swallow. Also, you can't order caravans to support your sieges, so there is a bit of reality associated with the difference in response.

In my experience, spying is an accepted part of commerce. One reason why totalitarian states do so badly is that they are so obsessive about controlling espionage that they screw up commerce. Things are a bit more tense in the nuclear age, but what you really have to watch out for is armed aggressors with ill intent. 

True story: Five years ago I was on some military bases in South Korea, including some fairly sensitive ones.  On the way between various islands it occurred to me that I might be making myself conspicuous because unlike some of the sailors around me who knew nothing about what was sensitive, I wasn't taking pictures where I shouldn't.  I did take some pictures of some submarines later on, but only after I realized that those subs were being sent out to have pictures of them taken. The Cold War isn't over, it's just reduced in scope.

 

[Zaneki]

I have a few, here they are-

Situation: The Village of (Name here)were recently robbed by villagers of (Name here) in the kingdom of (Name here). If we don't act now, this incident may trigger a full-scale war between our nation and (Name here).

A: Send a companion as a diplomat to hold talks with the kingdom's king.
Outcome: Relation with villages increase, relation with the specific country increase, relations with lords decrease.

A: Ignore the Incident.
Outcome: Chance of war between the nations(About a 75% chance?), Relation with villages Decrease. Relation with Lords Increase.

A: Send a group of men to raid the village.
Outcome: The war starts immediately after the raid. Relation with villages decrease, relations with Lords increase.


Situation: Reports say enemy may have spies inside the nation, they must be dealt with or our forces will suffer greatly.

A: Have men investigate.
Outcome: Chance spies may be found, If so, choice for Execution, set free, or imprisonment. Relations with the country responsible decrease. Relation with Lords increase.

A: Ignore the spies.
Outcome: Spies sabotage the army, cuts garrison men down by a quarter. Lets enemy army know when you go on a campaign.

I'll post more later