Follower ideas

[Josh]

I dont think mercs would fit in well with the setting. When i think about them being featured i become uneasy

 

[SimpleMinded]

well... my argument (sp?) for dogmeat not being around any longer would be he DIED... how old would he be now? like 100+ depending on when the next game takes place. Mercs sound interesting... it probably would fit into the setting (people need to survive, so they offer there services). Heck, Ian in fallout was a merc! Though he didnt charge monthly or anything, he stated at the beginning he would go for money and a share of the goods.

I think if executed well mercs could be great.. the problem of course, is if there executed poorly they would be a big downer. :-p

 

[Rogue Hex]

There was a very over-looked RPG/RTS game called Rages of Mages (both 1 & 2) that had a mercenary system that Rogue Hex described. Before you go out on your mission, you can visit the bar where, of course, there are hordes of mercenaries you can have come along. The cheaper they are, the more troops that'll come along (i.e. 4 Footmen for 100 gold pieces). They'll have agendas so sometimes they won't come with you. And the more often you hire them on, the higher experience gain they receive and you'll see their equipment getting upgraded. You have to hire them on for each mission but it makes the game easier. And when they die, you lose them forever (read: never can hire them back again). Is this the sort of system you mean, Rogue Hex?

Hmmm yea, along those lines...
I agree that this is a sensetive factor to put into a game. Implemented well and it could be a good addition, implemented badly and it will screw the game and its balance all the way to Bristol.

They would need to be some sort of restriction on what can and can't be hired.
Numbers for example: There would be little point in being able to hire out an army of mercs.

One possible solution to this would be that your maximum number of NPC's also determines the amount of mercs you would be able to bring along. For example a merc will account for one NPC. If a player want's more Mercs then s/he would have to get rid of her NPC's in order to free the positions and they wouldn't be able to hire out more mercs than their maximum number of NPC's allows.

If we were to use the system mentioned by Gunsligner in which mercs become better over time, this could be used to prevent characters from employing a highly experienced killer at the start of the game. Or you could simply have Mercs in one of the final towns only. Thus people wouldn't be able to hire them out untill later on in the game.

Or, if they were to be hired earlier on in the game then maybe only have 1-2 mercs to choose from that don't really have any better value than what your current NPC's give except for a little extra muscle.

This way their wouldn't be a total destruction of the games balance by making it too easy. You could think of it as having more NPC's to choose from.