Making people surrender

[tiny lampe]

I like the idea of enemies being able to surrender. First because it makes sense, second because deciding what to do with a defeated opponent is a pretty important decision in any roleplay.

I'm not fully convinced that the player should be able to tell enemies that they should surrender (through a sign, command or otherwise). I think it would be enough if enemies automatically surrendered when appropiate and then it was up to the player to decide what to do next.

In my opinion enemies should surrender when they feel overhelmed unless surrendering goes against their beliefs/personality. An enemy may feel overwhelmed if 1) the player can deal a lot of damage very quickly while remaining unharmed himself, 2) the player has high renown, 3) the player possesses superior gear (bandit with dagger tries to rob you just to notice, too late, that you are wearing plate armor under your cloak).

On the topic of how to tell the opponent who surrendered what to do, I'm against the idea of pop-up menus. Use of contextual buttons/actions should be enough. For example: start by pressing the 'interact' button while your crosshair is over the opponent. If at that moment your weapon is unsheated (menacing attitude) you will loot him. If at that moment your weapon is sheated (forgiving attiude) you will talk to him. To kill him, simply attack. Also, I agree with Empire regarding the use of finishing moves and the like; Sui Generis is not about flashiness. Besides, one 'disadvantage' (if you want to call it like that) of Sui Generis physics-based combat is that it is not compatible with precanned animations.

 

[Parco]

no need for a popup to give you the option for what to do with enemies that have surrendered, if you have a robe you can use it on them to tie them up so you can take them where you want as a prisoner, if you want to let him go you simply let him be, but if you want him dead you take a simple swing at his throat.
this could also impact your reputation in that world, if you take him as a prisoner and deliver him to the authorities for example then people will look at you as more righteous, or whatever you would call that kind of reputation, with this kind of reputation high then people will be more open to you about legally problems (they got robbed and want you to help them retrieve what was stolen, etc,..) guards, knights and noblemen will trust you alot easier, so if you get into trouble there will be a higher chance for them to take your side.
if you killed the guy who surrendered and there was someone who witness it and that person lived to tell others then your reputation would be merciless, people would be more afraid to cross your path / get on your bad side, people might act alot nicer to avoid trouble or/and try to avoid you. if your opponent knows youre merciless then there is a chance their morality might be lowered in fights against you because they are afraid so they are more likely to do more mistakes
if you let him/her go then your reputation would be more friendly. people will trust you alot easier and will be more open for different discussions and it will be easier to get favors.

if you want to surrender then you simply back away a little from your opponent and sit down and unequiping your weapon and hope for the best. for example if youre facing a fully armored opponent and you only got a sword and a semi wooden shield then your chance for survival is higher if you surrender. if you dont know anything about your opponent then there is a 2/3 chance that you will survive and 1/3 that you will go as a free man, if you have a bounty then the chance of being taken as a prisoner is alot higher.

 

[Stupidity]

"Parley"

 

[Empire²]

"Parley"
View attachment 71

"There should be a 'Captain' in there somewhere..."

Great movie.

Anyways, I think if you add a specific hotkey and animation for it, it'll feel a lot more contextual. I mean, you draw your sword the same way as you sheath it again, and the body language doesn't imply defeat in any possible ways.

Maybe an animation where you still hold your weapon and hold up one hand, or sheathing it and putting up both your hands, going down on your knees to submit.

I feel like that would be a good balance between both extremities.

 

[malfunction]

Surrendering is an awesome idea. Adds a huge amount of immersion, etc.
I think every element of surrendering can be conveyed through animation. For an enemy to surrender, all they have to do is find a moment they have an opportunity to back away, throw down their weapon, and raise their arms. I think that will be relatively clear that they're surrendering.

I don't think the user needs to prompt the enemy to surrender. I think it'd be very cool to add the ability to negotiate with an enemy even in an aggressive stance, but most of the ways I can imagine this happening would be very immersion breaking.

As for the player surrendering, I think it could realistically be done with a key to sheath your weapon. Pressing "x" or something could toggle between sheathed and unsheathed. Not sure if there are plans for this at all, but I think it would add quite a bit of potential gameplay, like yielding to guards or entering a situation without weapons drawn, but with weapons still showing.

Sheathing your weapon would generally be considered an act of lowering aggressiveness. Sheathing weapons in a fight would make you surrender. In this case, the enemy would decide what to do with you. Usually this would be merciful or opportunistic (looting), but sometimes they would just execute you. You'd want to be pretty sure they're a fairly gallant individual to risk surrendering.

Failing this, maybe just the regular UI system of changing the weapon to your inventory could have the same effect, or better still dropping your weapon on the ground. Of course, raising any weapon again would re-initiate combat.

Anyway, a few more things to consider:

• In a group fight, enemies should not surrender unless the entire group decides to surrender simultaneously or if they're the last one left. I think an entire group surrendering would be extremely rare.
• Enemies with summoned creatures should never surrender while they have the resources to summon.
• Perhaps surrendered enemies could be looted of their items as if they were dead bodies (can just take stuff from their inventory). Of course looting everybody who surrenders would carry certain effects.
• Can you still use your Thaumaturic powers when surrendered? How would you handle this?

Most of this stuff has been said before but I thought I'd just throw in my support.

 

[Granville]

First of all i think you sorted it there malfunction

• Can you still use your Thaumaturic powers when surrendered? How would you handle this?

It would make sense to still be able to do everything as normal even after surrendering, this goes the same for enemies. This would make things more interesting when approaching a surrendered enemy, as unless you know their motivations they could have a concealed weapon/be a skilled thaumaturge and be planning a sneak attack. Could prove very exciting.