Hey, I've been going through and playing around with the new breaking places, and here are my thoughts on them.

Both look great and work just fine. I've got no problem with idle and working animations being the same; that said, perhaps you could add a small cosmetic item to each one that will activate when the conversion is running, for those people who want an indicator. A candle sitting on the barrel or next to the carpet that lights up if it's running could work.

I didn't personally notice that the stool was too short for the barrel. Perhaps you could have the converted thrall and taskmaster standing there using conversation idles to look like they're talking. I don't know if it's possible to randomize the idles, or to make the taskmaster and converting thrall use other idles if one of them is missing (so they won't look like they're talking to thin air), but if it is, that might be something to also look into.

The religious carpet also got me thinking: Would it be possible to allow certain religious items, like Elixir of Freedom and Ambrosia, to be usable as fuel for converting thralls in the religious carpet?

Thanks for the feedback.

I agree with you in regard to the idle animations. I was thinking about this when I had to make a correction to the sitting idle animation. I think to make some of the animations feel more realistic, I will need to get into creating some mashups of the existing animation montages. This will be new-ish territory for me, but fingers crossed I can get something that looks less rigid.

I also think I may break out some concepts. Like the stool/barrel is nice, but why not just the stool? This way you could prop it against your own tabe/bar/ect. The trouble with this is the taskmaster.... it would be more awkward to sort out. Another tricky bit is how the meshes all work in the background. (It's a tangled mess between what mesh does what or is visible in game from several separate blueprints) But I think I may have a new method/structure in mind that could work.

For the bar, I think I could have:
T1: 1 stool sitting
T2: 3 stool sitting one standing,
T3: Crowed bar vibe mix of stools and standing

Then have the taskmaster placed a distance back (roughly the width of the in game bar) This way if folks wanted to position the items independently they could and choose to include or exclude the taskmaster. For example, they could place several t1 converters around a table and just not have a taskmaster in place. Regardless, the in game bar is part of the old derketo DLC so I can't use the mesh as part of the set up... Another possible benefit of leaving out the bar mesh it opens up the scene for folks to add their own bar sets from other mods. - I could see this approach being worth it to add to the versatility. (edit: after re-reading.. why not just have the taskmaster seem like another bar patron? Other than they would stand out in their standard get up)

As for the religious foods.
I think the trick here is it might be an all or nothing change. For example, if I were to add them, they would work on all converters. I don't see this as a problem. It would be neat to have booze in the friend bar be usable for conversion. My only hesitation is I am not sure where the array of usable fuels is stored. If I can figure that out and it is part of the blueprints I am using then I probably will make the change. If it would mean editing each item... I probably wont just to prevent any long term breakage risks. This should be easy to figure out though, at least as far as it being a possibility or not. - Thanks for reminding me that we wanted to look into it.

As for the indicators of 'doneness'. I was thinking about that, candles or what not, but I worry that they may look too unnatural when you have a bunch set up. For example, in a temple with a lot of worshipers... it may seem odd to have everyone with the same candle in the same spot. This is more of an issue with using the converters as decorative props. I may just table this detail for now and focus on getting the animations and converter scenes set. It is probably not a necessary detail and may tip the balance of versatility and usability in a way that is not needed.

Another plan I want to work out are rest tents, sleeping cots, or some other 'lived in feeling'. For bringing thralls in and taking care of them. Or just having them as props were you don't convert the thralls. I'll focus on the religious and bar set ups first.

Feel free to give me more feedback if you think of stuff.

I thought of allowing religious items like ambrosia or elixir of freedom to be usable in wheels of pain because those items have bugged me since religions first became a thing. I always end up with an enormous backlog of religious consumables because I have to craft them to get my manifestations of zeal, but they I don't use them as quickly as I make them. Mitra is the only religion that just lets you convert religious resources directly into zeal without extra stuff.

I just had a thought: why not a themed religious carpet for each religion instead of a single generic carpet? Each carpet could be added to the craftable lists in their respective altars.

Mitra could have a carpet with incense and candles around it. The thrall and taskmaster could both be kneeling on the ground worshiping. The standard and greater versions of this could expand the area so it looks like the taskmaster is preaching to the converting thralls. This obviously would work best with something like Accessory Wardrobe so you can make the taskmaster wear whatever you want, but still.

Yog could have the taskmaster and thralls all consuming (man) meat together on the floor. Standard and greater versions would just expand the size of the feast.

Set could have the thrall in chains or in a pillory near what looks like a sacrificial altar, as if the Taskmaster is coercing obedience by terrifying the thralls with threats of cutting their hearts out. Maybe the thrall could be the one chained to the altar, maybe he could be tied up nearby.

Ymir is a bit hard, but I'm thinking either a sparring/training ring or a feasting table. Sparring ring would probably work best. You MIGHT be able to reference bazaar and DLC emotes by using the mod controller with their internal IDs, and I know Pippi shows every item in the game including stuff you don't have access to, so that might let you use things like the sword and spear training emotes they added with this recent battle pass.

Zath is probably going to involve someone chained to the floor covered in spiders. If that doesn't coerce obedience I don't know what will.

Derketo...would likely have something that wouldn't look out of place in a sex dungeon. Add a cage, surround it with incense and candles, give the thrall the squirm emote and the taskmaster seduce and/or dance emotes. And probably don't get a male taskmaster because belly dancing men is one of those things known to trigger epileptic seizures.

Crom would just get a sign that says "Crom does not care." I'm only half joking about that.

I tried to come up with stuff that would ultimately just be furniture and decoration compositions with the thralls and taskmaster in different positions than normal. While each one could end up getting complicated, they should just be extensions of what you've already done a great job with in the thrall cages and the stool.

Recent subscriber, liking friend bar a lot. How is the project coming along?