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Suggestion Leader Trait Discussion

kinggath

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With patch 3.1.2, 3rd party leaders can now be added (check out the Builder's Toolkit if you want to create you own leaders!) , and all leaders are given a huge purpose with the trait system.

In order to maintain balance, the traits are all hard-coded, which means the initial offering is pretty limited - so I want to expand it greatly in order to cover a wide array of gameplay and flavor options. So I'm looking for suggestions on two fronts: Conceptual and Gameplay.

Conceptual - this would essentially be the name and spirit of a trait. How does the trait manifest itself in leading a group of people trying to survive in the wasteland?

Gameplay - Ideas for settlement gameplay things that could make sense to adjust. For the most part, every number in the settlement system and Sim Settlements can be altered - and these make for great Minor Traits and Weaknesses. The most interesting, and difficult, are the Major Traits. These need to offer something new and exciting gameplay-wise, without being excessive in development time.

When talking in terms of game play suggestions, don't worry too much about the specific numbers, you can just refer to things in terms of an increase or decrease. A lot of the numbers that are implemented now will probably change over time as we try and balance out the mod.


In this discussion, I'm very interested in hearing about the different leaders that are being released in add-on packs so we can talk about specifically what kind of traits would make sense for them to have. I'd rather spend time implementing traits that will be used immediately, then just creating theoretical ones that have no place.


(Before commenting, please check out the in-game Explanation screen from the Change Leader option on the City Planner Desk blueprint menu - that way you're familiar with what has already been implemented.)
 
Well I think it's fair to say that some prefer certain NPCs over others... we all have favorites, and some we just can't stand. But giving people the tools and guidance to make there own mods to publish is a good thing. You don't have to download all of them.

Shouldn't it be possible to essentially merge these mods using FO4Edit with copy override into feature like you can with multiple other smaller mods? That way you're only getting one version of the leader you prefer, rather than having 3-4 of the same leader by using all the mods, or could remove a leader that you aren't interested in having. I have not tried it with the Leader mods but I will check it out later. I've done it with other mods but they had nothing to do with SS. Most were companion edits.

Merging them doesn't really make much sense, but you could certainly alter the formlists that the leader cards go in for your copy of a mods esp and remove the cards you never want to see.
 
What about a minor trait that increases the likelihood that you'd be attacked by enemies? Maybe something like Synthphobic, or E-raider-ator, where it lowers defenses and makes whichever faction you want to attack more, more likely to do so.

Think like Han Solo and the bounty hunter problem, or having an openly Railroad settlement (because of the settler) attracting Institute attacks.

EDIT: Because of bad grammar and examples.
 
What about a minor trait that increases the likelihood that you'd be attacked by enemies? Maybe something like Synthphobic, or E-raider-ator, where it lowers defenses and makes whichever faction you want to attack more, more likely to do so.

Think like Han Solo and the bounty hunter problem, or having an openly Railroad settlement (because of the settler) attracting Institute attacks.

EDIT: Because of bad grammar and examples.

kinggath and I talked about that actually, I wanted the same. Sadly it would require altering vanilla scripts (a no-no) or a reworked raid system (which kinggath isn't ready to consider at this time)
 
kinggath and I talked about that actually, I wanted the same. Sadly it would require altering vanilla scripts (a no-no) or a reworked raid system (which kinggath isn't ready to consider at this time)

to assist everyone what are all the traits available in the game? Since you were saying traits are hardwired as knowing the base vanilla code would eliminate members from banging their head against the code, as what they were trying to achieve.
 
to assist everyone what are all the traits available in the game? Since you were saying traits are hardwired as knowing the base vanilla code would eliminate members from banging their head against the code, as what they were trying to achieve.

At the moment the traits are those listed in the builders toolkit documentation.

There isn't an exhaustive list of what kinggath can add however, really those suggestions have to be evaluated as they come in.

Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1425/
 
I would love to see this

Major trait = "Enclave Remnant" or simply "Ally of the Enclave" - if there are more creative names that would probably be better - The trait would grant "Enclave Guards" to the settlement, and if we are not working with other mods the guards would wear x-01 power armor and use plasma rifles. If other mods are allowed they would wear x-02 power armor. The guards would also be few in number - only 2 or 3.


positive trait = Authoritarian control - buildings upgrade slightly slower, but in turn produce a bit more than normal.
negative trait = Enemy of the brotherhood - (If possible) all raids done on this settlement are done by BoS ground forces

The person to have these traits is nonexistent as of now, I would love to try to make a Colonel Autumn companion or npc. but as of now Fallout 4 has no one worthy of these three traits.
 
I think you don't want to know what I think.
But really, I figure you structured leader traits with perks in mind. Because this can have a considerable impact on the game, but there is a very small contact with the player I thought it might be better to link the traits in a natural way. Major perks would become Expertise and all of the traits would be named after common jobs: Life giver becomes Farmer, Bot-finder becomes Roboticist, Brotherhood ally is BoS Officer, etc. Minor perks become Interests and are based on positive Hobbies/Skills: Ex-farmer becomes Gardener, Shakedown is Scrounger. And then Flaws (think 7 sins) negative attributes: Synthetic becomes Black Thumb, etc. The idea is to make the title link to the bonus/negative as close as possible. This will hopefully require less reliance on the explanation and make a connection to a known idea, hopefully making a stronger memory link between the two. If the leader trait list becomes larger this should become more useful.
 
A set of traits that determine which buildings to place on a plot? This would not be easy, but would have a high impact on auto generated plots.
Somehow attach keywords to each plot design. Then have traits that check for plots with those tags when building

The leader with say the "metal lover" trait would choose buildings with the "metal" tag. You'd get lots of metal shacks and industrial plots that produce metal. This could allow leaders to automatically build settlements with unified themes.

It could also facilitate negative traits that negate certain keywords. For example someone mentioned Shefield was an ex drinker. So you could make a "dry" trait that makes it so "bar" plots could be excluded.
 
Combat zone Tommy Lonegan as a Leader.

Traits: Cage master: Cages more likely trap legendary enemy, show must go on: all stores are open till late hours. Trojan horse: reduce defense meter and enemy spawn in middle of the outpost ?
 
I'm not sure how many of these are duplicated in-thread or actually in-game but here's a quick list:

Positive
Inconspicuous: Settlement requires less defence
Electrician: Any item which requires 2 or more power requires 1 less.
Idealist: +10 Happiness when settlement happiness is already over 50%

Master Merchant
: Each provisioner route which begins or ends in the settlement provides extra Tax.
Scrap Merchant: Each provisioner route which begins or ends in the settlement provides extra Junk.
(Spice?) Merchant: Each provisioner route which begins or ends in the settlement provides extra Happiness.
Intelligence Merchant: Each provisioner route which begins or ends in the settlement provides extra defence.

Gardener: Agricultural plots provide a small happiness boost.
Omnivore: Each agricultural plot provides +1 Food
Arms Dealer: Commercial plots provide a small defence boost.
Blacksmith: Industrial plots provide a small defence boost
Synergistic: Each industrial plot provides a +5% boost to productivity of other industrial plots (Up to 15%)

Negative
Ostentatious: Settlement requires more defence.
Luddite: Anything that requires 2 or more power requires 1 more.
Picky Eater: Agricultural Plots produce 1 less food
Embezzler: Excess caps are not passed to the player.
 
The old Medieval II: total war game has allot of traits for the in-game
agents (Kings, heirs, generals, spies, assassins, princesses, priests and diplomats).
Perhaps some of those traits might be usable for SImSettlement leaders?

Here is a link to a list with all traits.
twcenter . net/ forums/showthread.php?126376-Complete-Trait-List
 
One thing that makes using leaders cumbersome is whenever you need to check their traits you need to scroll through this huge list, not to mention that the menu sometimes glitches out. It would make for a better experience if there was a screen to see what just the perks the selected leader has do.
 
I'd really like to see Danse's trait(s) change after Blind Betrayal. No longer really makes sense to have the vertibird circling overhead.

P.S. Thanks for the amazing mods and hours of fun playing with them.
 
Random idea for minor traits:

- Animal Friend: recreational and agricultural plots spawn twice the rabbits/chickens. Settlers are more likely to spawn with cats/dogs/brahmin
- No Pets Allowed: recreational and agricultural plots never spawn rabbits/chickens. Settlers never spawn with animals.
 
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