For a game that is supposed to have aspects of an RPG, inter-character interaction is somewhat limited. Sure, mercs can like/dislike others, and even refuse to work with them… but that is static. Even sexism, racism and other neat stuff is static. Merc relationships don’t evolve.
This feature aims to change that.
There are now a couple of events that can cause one merc to change his opinion on other mercs. This can be a negative or a positive change.
As all actions of our mercenaries are fundamentally controlled by the player, some events won’t happen unless the player orders/doesn’t stop them – like friendly fire. Other events are
as good as inevitable in the course of your campaign. You might even find some events unjustified (mercs blame other mercs for decisions that the player made), but that’s just human nature 🙂
An opinion-related event can happen once per day. This is necessary, otherwise an event might stack and bring opinions to ludicrous values. However, a merc remembers an event for up to 4 days. This means that a merc can hold a grudge for some time. If Mr. Higgins shoots Ms. Higgins in an accident once, she might forgive him. If this becomes a daily habit, she might get pissed blackcat
The opinion impacts can be set in Morale_Settings.ini. Note that the total sum of opinions (base value, sexism/racism/etc., these events) will be cut to be between -25 (HATRED) and +25 (LOVE/BROMANCE).
The following events exist (this will likely become more later on):
- shoots him: friendly fire can sour even the best relationship.
- snitches behind out back: used when a snitch reports on a merc to the player.
- interferes in our business: addicts an thieves don’t like it if someone else stops them from doing their thing.
- likes the wrong people: If someone is friends with someone we truly hate, we hate him a bit too.
- gets a contract: If another merc’s contract gets extended even though ours was shorter too begin with, this smells of favouritism. We don’t want that, no?
- orders retreat: a retreat is shameful. The mercs will likely blame their most senior comrade present (exp level + squadleader trait level)(even though it was the player who gave the order)
- massacres the innocent: killing innocent (= non-hostile) civilians does not sit well with some people.
- slows us down: if a merc carries too much, he will slow down travel. His squad won’t like it.
- is an addict: Most people aren’t comfortable around addicts, especially if they are openly reminded of the habit.
- is a thief: Stealing does not sit well with many.
- is a bad commander: if a lot of allies died in a battle (mercenary and militia), the mercs are likely to blame the most senior comrade present (exp level + squadleader trait level)(even though blaming the player might be more reasonable)
- earns way too much: if mercs see someone else earning much more than they would on that level, they get jealous. Only applies to those who get increasing wages to begin with.
- has all the good stuff: If other mercenaries have much better gear, this might cause jealousy.
- heals us: bandaging/doctoring/surgery is a good thing.
- drinks with us: This is the easiest way to improve team relations, and also finally gives us a good reason to organise a huge booze-fest with everybody. If 2 mercs drink alcohol at the same time, this will either improve (67% chance) or worsen (33% chance) their opinions a bit. Good and bad cancel each other out. However, good on good gives us a very good opinion and ‘locks’ the progress for today (works similar for bad). Basically, if you get the whole team drunk at the same time, they will either like each other more or less – more is more likely.