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Diplomacy: A suggestion

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
I was thinking last night, and I came up with a bare bones system to create a sense that you can talk down enemy Captains, and I thought I'd post it here for review and adjustment. Tell me what you think.


When you enter a scenario, the enemy commander cnotacts you, and a dialog opens. At the same time, two attributes are generated for the commander, his ATTITUDE and HOSTILITY.

Attitude is the way he behaves, and determines how he will respond to your attitude toward him (which will come from your response choices).

Hostility is a numerical value that determines how patient he will be, and how long he will keep talking before starting to fight. His hostility will be influenced by his Attitude.


You will not be privy to what these values are, but you may be able to guess by his choice of words. When he contacts you with a message (basically, "GO AWAY" in not so many words...), you will be given 5 choices of response. One will be the best response, and will result in his agreement to depart without further incident. One will be the worst response, and will result in combat. The other three will be "neutral" responses which will affect his Hostility level. One of these will decrease his hostility, two will increase it.

Exactly which response is best and which is worst will depend on his Attitude. For example, if you meet an Arrogant enemy, the best approach might be to suck up to him, while being aggressive would be the worst course. On the other hand, if you meet a Timid enemy, being aggressive might be the best course. It would depend on the personality of the enemy commander.


It's basically an elaborate Rock-Paper-Scissors, but I think it could work.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    An example:

    You enter the mission, and are required to contact an asteroid base. Approaching the base, you are informed that the Klingons have been raiding them, and you will have to defend them.

    A Klingon ship spawns, and contacts you. At this point, the Klingon's attitude and hostility are generated randomly (unknown to you, his Attitude is Aggressive and his Hostility starts at 8).

    He says, "You are not welcome here, Starfleet. You will leave at once, or we will destroy you!"

    Now, you have to try to guess what kind of attatude he has. Based on his message, you might think he's aggressive, but not all messages or Attitudes would be so clear. You are offered five possible responses, sorted randomly, chosen from a selection of more or less random possibilities.

    1. We're not going anywhere Commander, YOU are. Disengage your weapons and leave this system or WE will destroy YOU! (aggressive response)

    2. Let's take a moment and talk about this, Commander. There must be a mutually satisfactory accomodation we can reach. (diplomatic)

    3. We don't want to fight you, you know that. Please tell us what you want here and we'll try to help you get it without violence. (timid)

    4. This is Federation Space, you have no business here. We requset that you leave peacefully and file your grievance with the approproate authorities. (officious)

    5. Commander, we wouldn't think of standing in your way, but could you please tell us why you're here so we can fill out our log? (fearful)


    The Klingon, being aggressive, will respond best to a timid response. He will respond worst to an aggressive response. The fearful response would decrease his hostility by 1, and the other responses would increase it by one.

    If you select one of the neutral responses, his hostility will be affected. If you reduce it to 0, he will leave peacefully. If you increase it to 10, he will attack.

    If you select the best response, he will leave peacefully, if you select the worst, he will attack.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    Ah, I think you can forget this thread, someone has already suggested something nearly identical.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    That and it seems like they've already gotten their system roughed out. Have you seen the posts?
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