Nos' Tower - Concepts

As you can tell, I'm feeling markedly better this morning. It's amazing what some chemical free sleep will do for the mind.

The good Sergeant's comment to yesterday's post got me thinking. I've done quite a bit of planning while I couldn't GECK, and have worked out several of the details I've decided on thus far; since I know several of you are probably wondering heavily.

Firstly, as stated previously, this will not be a satellite of the RR Companions Vault. Vault 1 will not be required in any capacity to run Nos' Tower. Ever. However, there will be a plugin to bridge the two masters, for people who run both and want to billet companions at the tower more easily.

The Tower will be a master. This is not so much to allow end-user modifications, as because it's going to include several NPCs.

I've also decided the Tower will include companions, but not a companion system. No "create your own!" stuff here. I've got nothing against people wanting to make their own, really... but I found it very limiting. The SetEssential commands, for example, couldn't be made to work from dialog in the RR system, because the create-your-own nature of the project required it be as close to plug and play as possible. With the new system, I'll be able to custom tailor options to each NPC as needed, to make them more versatile without worry of what will and won't work for people who don't know how to script.

The Tower will not be a freebie. By that, I don't mean you'll have to pay money for it; I mean someone won't run up to you at random and go "Hey! Person I've never seen before! You want your own idyllic base? Here you go!" That crap has always annoyed me, so I won't cop out and push it on you to avoid having to actually come up with a premise on my own.

There will be a story and progression attached. I haven't decided how far (if at all) I want it tied into the main questline. Probably not at all, for compatibility's sake; but it will be a home that grows over time. Starting out empty, but being stocked and decorated and manned as you track down personnel to hire, buy/beg/steal equipment, and so on. Maybe even outposts of your new forces - again, depending on how much of a compatibility pain in my ass it becomes.

As I said, there will be companions. However, this won't be an instance of "one for every taste". Companions will be made to my particular sensibilities, and around the part(s) they're meant to play in the story (if any). Some will be selectable essential or non; some will be stuck on essential.

You're almost guaranteed to see some re-used concepts from my other work, the Vault 1 Remodel especially. I spent a fair bit of time working on some of those things, I like them, and I intend to see their inclusion in any home mod I create for my own use. Others you won't see me going near. For example: I wouldn't hold my fucking breath for the inclusion of a jail of any sort in the Tower. There will, however, be a lovely pool lined in white marble with gray and black veins.

The Tower will include merchants. These merchants will use caps management scripting similar to Chloe. Yes, it's a reuse. I spent two weeks writing that damned script and getting it to work fully, and I'll be damned if I'm going to revert to the game's default shitty methods when I have better available.

No decision yet on whether to include attacks on the Tower of some sort.

There will be no romance option for any of the NPCs. I'm not against them - far from it, I love following those paths in a game - it's just that it's a lot of trouble to write; for multiple NPCs especially so.

There will be two entrances to the Tower (which itself stands out in the Potomac). One will be a tunnel-access; and the other an underground passage accessed from a front-building. Haven't decided exactly how they'll be initially discovered yet, though.

Other options and story specifics are still being tossed about.

If there's something you want to see (or not), feel free to voice it in the comments.