Dwemer Centurion Companion Development/Discussion

[bob196045]

:goodjob:

We do have a centurian then? or did you use something else for testing



Enjoy
Bob

[InsanitySorrow]

I used the centurian spider for testing, a steam centurian is being worked on so we could use that

[Seniosh]

Scripting is quite the challenge, how much of the script is working? If you need any help with it, i'd be willing to test it/look at the script, though i daresay you're probably much better at scripting than i am.

[InsanitySorrow]

Well I am currently -reworking it into a seperate esp cause all my Dumac Stuff was in the one esp. Anyway pretty much all the script works i am just finalising the summon part and death part to add/remove the chest and creature and so forth.

hopefully this week I will have the esp for ya to test.

Scripting is quite the challenge, how much of the script is working? If you need any help with it, i'd be willing to test it/look at the script, though I daresay you're probably much better at scripting than I am.

Once you get your head around it its not too bad, just start with simple scripts and before ya know it you can script all kinds. As for being better, well maybe more experienced, but it all comes down to how you interpperate the script and make it it work, so really you might be better than me :yes:

Who knows?, What have you scripted so far?

[Ayreus]

I was just reading through this post when I had an interesting idea... What about special "upgrade" artifacts that would effectively boost the (summonable, I know) steam centurion's abilities? Something along the lines of an item that could be "inserted" into the centurion from the player's inventory screen. Since the centurion is going to stick around until it's destroyed, it'd be more realistic if the item was destroyed along with it, in which case you'd want to make sure that more of the same would pop up occasionally in logical Dumac locations.

EDIT: You could even go so far as different upgrade artifacts that boost different sets of abilities for a little variety. If you wanted to really mix things up you could have it so that only one upgrade could be used at a time and can't be removed, forcing the player to choose between sticking with the current upgrade or letting the centurion be destroyed so they can summon a new one and use a different upgrade if they have more than one in their inventory. Maybe the centurion could have a self-destruct switch . One other idea that compliments this rather nicely is to allow the centurion to "level up" on its own, making the decision to sacrifice it for a new set of boosted abilities that much more of a dilemma.

Anyway, that should rather nicely supply some raw materials for additional quests, I'd think .

[Seniosh]

Hmm, that'd be interesting - you give the centurion some item, it upgrades itself, and then carries the upgrade until destruction.

There could definitely be some repeatable quest to get said item, or at least some process. We have several different dwemer machines, so conceivably, you could activate one machine, feed it some ore, take the refined ore to another machine where it becomes some other raw item, and then that gets shaped and hammered and turns into a sword upgrade or something.

And even that leads to possibilities whereupon the player, after reaching a certain level, can go on a quest to find a deeper section of the mine containing more valuable ores... Excellent suggestion.

[Ayreus]

Oops, sorry, literally just re-edited the post with additional suggestions, so please check it again.

The item synthesis process is really interesting...It's basically in the same vein as the Dwemer Elemental Alchemy system we came up with for the Forsaken Isles. I wonder if there would be any potential for a "crossing of roads" at some point, perhaps in a separate FCOM-type plugin?...

[Seniosh]

Hmm, for an FCOM thing you'd have to have a lot of work put into it... versions of things get updated, scripts need to be optimized, etc. But i see what you're saying. COBL is probably the better analogy.

I definitely don't have the scripting ability or time to do that though, so it can remain an idea (COBL-type stuff that is).

One idea is artifacts that only provide a temporary boost - you could give the centurion a special fuel, which essentially gives him "fortify strength" for like 10 minutes or something, at the end of which it runs out.

If the centurion could only heal by being given scrap metal or repair hammers, it would be really cool, but i have no clue how you'd try to script that.

btw @ InsanitySorrow

How far did you get with this? From the last post it looks like you were decently advanced with it.

[Ayreus]

Hmm...Well, my plate's full with the Forsaken Isles, but I'd be game for developing a COBL-type (correction noted) plugin later. My scripting skills in Oblivion are a little rusty atm, but I've been programming--mostly as a hobby--for a very long time (15+ years) so I don't think I'd have too many problems, not in terms of raw skill anyway. Hmm...well, that isn't supposed to come across as bragging, anyway.

Back on the centurion topic, how about a mix of short-term- and permanent-effect artifacts? I'm not sure how much you'd want the player to be able to develop the centurion character, but you could effectively give the player the means to develop the centurion's abilities to suit different styles of play and tactical preferences, almost like giving it a class, using permanent-effect items--which you could (and probably should) make mutually exclusive from each other if you decided to go that route. Outside of the "specialization" upgrades, I'd agree that it makes more sense if everything else has temporary effects. The scripting part of all that should be fairly easy to get up and running; finding a good balance of permanent skill boosts for "specializations" might be a bit more of a challenge.

[InsanitySorrow]

Originally posted by Seniosh

btw @ InsanitySorrow

How far did you get with this? From the last post it looks like you were decently advanced with it.

Yeah I advanced very far, but I put all my dumac projects on hold. Anyway I will get the sword done then start on this. If we are implementing upgrades then I will build a new esp[old ones a bit behind on the times] and incorporate the new ideas.

As for a "crossing-of-roads" depends on what they guys here think. I would not mind if some stuff was worked on between teams but some things I want exclusive to Dumac.