Hi im a huge fan of management rpg's such as these and my interest in what im about to put out here was spured on by obsidian in NWN 2 with the the little teaser called crossroad keep. now i understand a lot of players don't really have the feel for the whole strong hold management thing and don't see its point but that's because its still hasn't been implemented correctly into a game. developers are still seeing it as more of a side interest to the primary story mode which brings me to say i am like i was with crossroad keep disappointed in the lack of depth to the whole system.
Obsidian is effeminately looking down the right path by making the stronghold have effect on the player but they still are only just brushing the surface.. as it is now the pillars strong hold is pretty much useless.. sure you get some buffs from resting there but they are not even nearly worth the cost to build!! and once you have built the upgrades the strong hold has no other uses. so here is my proposal to put some life into the stronghold feature and make it for a more immersive more rewarding and dare say it a feeling of ownership power and dominance over ones subjects..
First things first.. you just stumble across the keep and umm its yours!! now in pillars their are factions which hold most of the power of the known world in the game.. so how come as a player i can just claim the keep.. shouldnt it belong to the realm of the owning faction and then shouldnt i earn the right own it or perhaps purchase it. !!! personally i would like to conquer it !! which is sort of what we do now.. but its more of a clear out than a conquer. once we own the keep.. upgrading it and rebuilding it is a no brainer but its just not right.. instead of clicking on upgrades which take days.. how about representing the progress of the repairs in the game world so we can see the the progress day by day hour by hour.. also having some npc's moving about looking like they are doing the work would be awesome too this is just fluff mechanics which add to the feel. also as we obtain the keep we are told we already have the resources to fix it upp.. i dont like this.. i think we should have to locate miners and builders npc's from around the world and employ them to work at our keep mining stones and steels and then building the structures in real time.. this will ass the feeling of control and ownership over the keep..
A keep also has lands and it is responsible for those lands. and like cross road keep the ability to send out patrols to specific regions to keep the roads safe or protect towns and villages would be just great and again these things would need to be in real time so as we are exploring we randomly come across the paths of our own patrols on the roads or in towns. it would be good if we could send out our companions and created companions to procure trade deals and arms and weapons deals as well as negotiate pacts and alliances with other lords. around the land. what im trying to say is.. the strong hold keep needs alot more love before its going to be seen as a good feature. things like a vault in the keep with tons of storage space not just some tiny chest. an actual physical room with bars and then chests behind those bars and pots for gold and so on so its represented in game. the ability to employ a standing npc army that roams around the keep and ptrols the tops of our curtain walls. and rather than just having npcs in the structures we build as defaults.. why not allow us to rebuild the structures then search and hire the npcs from around the game world maybe even make it where we must earn their trust before they will come and join us. another neat feature i would like to see is a active living breathing market in the game world where merchants stok is constantly changing with new items. the keep needs to be more lively and it needs to give the illusion of power.. right now its just some walls and some rather unpleasant npc's that do more or less nothing.. and that silly list of choices in the stronghold screen is just not cutting it.. if i want to send some one on a mission i want to converse with that companion about the mission!! and then order him to go and complete it.. then i want to obtain these missions from a keep steward who over looks the keep and takes care of things and takes messages for me while im out doing more important things. so when i return i have ad etailed report by means of a conversation and then the freedom to go and delegate the tasks and problems to my companions or my npc army to complete. and one last thing.. the ability to upgrade the standing npc force of the stronghold is a neccessary evil. its the feeling of progress and growing in military and diplomatic strenght when you are gradually watching your keep come to life and your army grow and their equipment improve from rough leather armour to scale mail and tabbards or even full plate suits. it would be good to recruit the army in in groups such as archers infantry and support classes like mages and healers.. the over all size of your army should represent part of the security of your lands and your diplomatic rating stat. also keep events like attacks shoudl feel like attacks.. all i can say about the current keep attacks are "LOL!!!!!" its just pathetic. i wouldnt mind seeing an entire battle break out where we have to organise the defence of our holdings and where our troops will deploy to give the feeling of a real keep attack in game. im just saying the strong hold system in NWN2 was great because its the first time its ever been done.. and that when obsidian had done it again in pillars it wasnt half as good as their first attempt. so this is a plea for a rework of the stronghold system so its something like the above.
