FCS for mitigating beta limitations (caravans, custom starts, slaves and other)

[I.C.E.]

07.04 Edit: Removed outdated Cooking fix. Added Spawning Areas info.

Past days, I wrote several step by step instructions like How to add customs start for non-humans, or how to add a missing cooking stove via ingame editor. Looks like it could be usefull to aggrigate some very basic editor instruction, that would let people do things they could do in alpha.

You better keep all your changes in separate mods and not to create one big 'MySuperMod', just an advice

Creating a custom start outside of The Holy Nation for completely non human squad.
1. Open 'Forgotten Construction Set' (your game directory)
2. Load all basic mods and create a new one with the name you like.
3. At the left pannel select 'Game starts'
4. Find 'Wanderer' or any other start you prefer.
5. Right click on it, select 'Duplicate item'
6. Rename it as whatever you like (it's name will be displayed ingame later)
7. Now you want to edit starting position. Select 'Towns' at the top right corner of the editing window.
8. Press 'add' and then select Mongrel, The Hub, Waystation or whatever else town you know. Having more then 1 town in list will spawn you randomly in one of them. Ensure that you removed Blister Hill if you duplicated 'Wanderer' game start.
There are hell lot of towns from the old map, selecting one of them will spawn you at the map center, which is 'Not available in beta'. You have been warned.
9. Save everything and exit.
10. Start the game and don't forget to enable your new mod in launcher menu.
11. Selec your newly created gamestart when starting a new game and create any non-human you want.
12. Enjoy!

Caravans in beta
This WILL work without starting a new game or even without import. This has been tested.
Caravans WILL come to your outpost to trade. Tested.
1. Open 'Forgotten Construction Set' (your game directory)
2. Load all basic mods and create a new one with the name you like.
3. At the left pannel click on a '+' next to 'Biomes' and select 'Spawn Area'
4. Find 'Orkan's Pride' or any other area you sure available in beta, and double click it.*
5. In a new window select 'homeles spawn' at the top right, and then click 'add'
6. Find a squad named 'Caravan' in a window, just opened and add it to the list.
7. Adjust caravans number in the current zome by editing ralative spawn chance (it's a numer next to each list entry). I used 5 and like the result.
8. Save everything and don't forget to enable your new mod in game laucher.
9. Play.

Starvation, for those who don't like the vanilla hunger
This should work, but I didn't tested it, cause I like the hunger behaviour.
1. Create a new mod, as described in every instruction above.
2. At the top panel of the editor click on 'Global game settings'
3. In the new window look for 'Hunger' section and find 'Starvation time'
4. By default you loose 100 points of fullness in 24 hours (the number you see now). Setting this number more then 24 will slow you hunger down, and vice versa.
5. Save everything.
6. Don't forget to enable this mod in game launcher.

'Safety in numbers' or how to change current fight mechanic into something more real
This is the first thing I do after each major Kenshi release. I don't like 10 people fighting 1 in a queue. Being outnumbered should be more difficult then just defeating 1 opponent at a time
1. Create a new mod, as described in every instruction above.
2. At the top panel of the editor click on 'Global game settings'
3. In the new window look for 'Combat balance' section and find 'Max num attack slots'
4. The number you see here represent the maximum number of enemies, who can simultaniously attack a single target. Set it to whatever number you like. I usually set to '3'
5. Save everything.
6. Don't forget to enable this mod in game launcher.

Roaming slave traders with actual shop
Playtested and works. No need to import/restart.
1. Create a new mod, as described in every instruction above or you can edit your caravans mod, since these two would be alike.
2. At leftmost pannel go to Factions -> Squads and find 'Slaver Shop', duplcate it and set the name of a copy to something like 'Slaver Shop Mobile'
3. Now you need to edit it's AI. First of all remove the current AI package from the list at right.
4. Add a new AI package named 'Slaver Wandering from town to town' (top right corner)
5. You may also remove squad dialogs, since they wouldn't make any sence. Make sure not to touch leader's dialog!
6. You probably want to edit a squad aswell, because roaming party will need better protection.
7. Now save your new squad and go into 'Caravan' section of this guide. Add roaming slavers just like you did with caravans.
8. Have fun and be a good master :)

*Shidan has poster a list of Spawn areas available in beta. I'll just leave it here.

Originally posted by Shidan:

Border Zone
Dreg
Fog Islands
Obedience
Okran's Gulf
Okran's Pride
Okran's Valley
Skinner's Roam
Vain

Personally I'd just stick them in the the "Okran's" areas and the border zone. And maybe Vain. As that's where they actually make the most sense. But you can do whatever you want. :)

Feel free to request more instructions or point out at something that alpha had and beta have not. I will try to help.
Free bumps appreciated, so more people can see the topic

[Shidan]

*Hits subscribe and waits patiently* :)

[Kehldael]

Awesome, dude !

[Just a Nobody]

I appreciate you sharing this. I noticed that under homeless spawns there's a slavers caravan. Is that a caravan that sells slaves? :)

[I.C.E.]

Originally posted by Just a Nobody:

I appreciate you sharing this. I noticed that under homeless spawns there's a slavers caravan. Is that a caravan that sells slaves? :)

According to slave trader's dialog - no. The only character with such dialog option should spawn inside a city and be some kind of a shopkeep. I'm not sure if there is an alternative for now.

Anyway - making player owned slaves in beta is my next goal and if I found enough inspiration and if it's even possible - I will share the instruction for sure.

[Squamousness]

Will caravans come to your outpost?

[I.C.E.]

Originally posted by Squamousness:

Will caravans come to your outpost?

They should. I missed the moment when it happened, but some stuff from my shop counter was sold and I got some money. I only saw a caravan leaving my outpost.

[Squamousness]

Also um do I spawn in Caravan or something called Caravan NW? there seem to be two types.

[I.C.E.]

Originally posted by Squamousness:

Also um do I spawn in Caravan or something called Caravan NW? there seem to be two types.

I used just a simple caravan. Not NW.

[zartury]

Hey, does the cooking stove actually work? I been messing around with it for the past two hours. Its got two bugs (at least on my end, been messing around with it to get it to work). One is that it takes an eternity to make anything. The progress bar moved a tiny bit after a day, but has since stalled. Modifying parameters, making a copy of building, functionality, etc. didn't get it working, still does the same thing. The other, so that others are warned if it happens to them, is that any items thrown in disappear after quiting and reloading the game. I am guessing that is why it wasn't added yet.

[Squamousness]

Originally posted by I.C.E.:

Originally posted by Squamousness:

Also um do I spawn in Caravan or something called Caravan NW? there seem to be two types.

I used just a simple caravan. Not NW.

All right thanks. I'll spawn both types in, just to see what happens.

[I.C.E.]

Just whitnessed caravan entering my building and buying supplies. Works as a charm. Updated original post with playtest confirmation.

Regarding cooking stove - Can't confirm yet. My outpost only produce bread. Will add playtest info later on.

[zartury]

Sure. In the meantime, will make seperate tables and cooking stoves for each food item (make life simple).

[Just a Nobody]

Great work I.C.E. Having caravans in the game makes it way more lively in the game. I also added some sand ninjas... nothing like walking up on a fight and stealing gear lol Please let me know if you get the slave system working. Thanks again!

[Kehldael]

How many caravans do you guys recommand ? Also, do they move accross the whole map ? or do they stay in the biome you make them spawn ?

[Just a Nobody]

I used I.C.E.'s recommendation of 5. Also, I think you need to put it down in all the zones that you want them to appear in.