JPA32
Recruit
So currently the system of death is a random chance with heavily leaning towards kills if the clan is too large. To me this feels a bit unfun ultimately because of how random it ends up being, you often lose family members out of nowhere
I think a better system would be a percentage chance of death starting at -15% upon turning 18 and becoming a lord. For every year that passes you gain a 1% chance of death increase, and for every time you fall in battle you also gain a 1% chance of death increase (the latter capping at 20%). This would ensure that your new children who're just finding their way in the world don't get killed before we even get to use them, and it gives you time to actually teach them skills so they can fight without getting knocked out while providing death a little more structure so the player can feel less ripped off when it does happen.
Similarly, since one of the prime methods of avoiding companion/family deaths is to cheese them away with a group retreat, I think there should be a passive benefit to lords and companions who stay alive for a battle based on the size of the conflict. Tactics makes sense (and really could have more uses tbh) but also Horse Riding/Athletics depending on if they're mounded or not. Their weapon skill could probably get a multiplier based on how much they did during the fight and even fighting with your family and companions could increase personal relationship numbers due to battle bonds if they survive (Which hopefully will have a purpose eventually.) I'd also propose a new skill named tutoring (Combine Steward/Leadership into Social since they're the same damn thing, Replace old Steward with Tutoring in INT) which could be leveled up passively from learning other skills above 50.
When your companions and family grow old and past their prime, you should be able to assign them to tutor kids and younger clan members so that you don't have to jump from an Engineer with 200 skill down to someone with almost none and it gives old clan members purpose when you don't want them to die in battle.
I think a better system would be a percentage chance of death starting at -15% upon turning 18 and becoming a lord. For every year that passes you gain a 1% chance of death increase, and for every time you fall in battle you also gain a 1% chance of death increase (the latter capping at 20%). This would ensure that your new children who're just finding their way in the world don't get killed before we even get to use them, and it gives you time to actually teach them skills so they can fight without getting knocked out while providing death a little more structure so the player can feel less ripped off when it does happen.
Similarly, since one of the prime methods of avoiding companion/family deaths is to cheese them away with a group retreat, I think there should be a passive benefit to lords and companions who stay alive for a battle based on the size of the conflict. Tactics makes sense (and really could have more uses tbh) but also Horse Riding/Athletics depending on if they're mounded or not. Their weapon skill could probably get a multiplier based on how much they did during the fight and even fighting with your family and companions could increase personal relationship numbers due to battle bonds if they survive (Which hopefully will have a purpose eventually.) I'd also propose a new skill named tutoring (Combine Steward/Leadership into Social since they're the same damn thing, Replace old Steward with Tutoring in INT) which could be leveled up passively from learning other skills above 50.
When your companions and family grow old and past their prime, you should be able to assign them to tutor kids and younger clan members so that you don't have to jump from an Engineer with 200 skill down to someone with almost none and it gives old clan members purpose when you don't want them to die in battle.