A bloo-bloo-bloo

I've been thinking about the guards in Surna recently, and I'd like to voice my concern that I don't think the guard has been active or useful at all, recently.

So far, I've noticed the only really active guard is Linera, who hasn't even gone through approval yet, and the way she acts, is like to get herself killed if she doesn't have any backup. The only time I've ever seen other guards online was during the full moon, or on very rare occasion, off-duty in the tavern.

I only bring this up because there is a lot of work cut out for the guards, as of this moment.

• Kira busted out of prison like a champ
  
• Trade caravans are being attacked regularly and signs point to the goblins being ot blame
  
• Constant attacks on Vorn Tyrr
  
• Someone broke the protective seals that keep baddies of the night out of town
  
• It is common knowledge who 2/3 of the were-beasts are, by now.
  
• Probably more problems I'm missing.
  

Agree. I'm curious though, how does a member of the watch RP passively?

Achosi wrote:

Agree. I'm curious though, how does a member of the watch RP passively?

Stand guard. Small talk with people walking by.
Patrol. Small talk with people they meet in the street.
Investigate any disturbances.

All of these are much better than sitting around saying you're off-duty.


But I have no idea how the watch are in this day and age as I've only been on-server once in quite some time.

Quote :

Kira busted out of prison like a champ

Was that admin approved? Sounds like me it relates to the problem the old guardhouse used to have where nobody gave a shit about IC conditions like being in a guardhouse filled with armed men.

Also more actual guard characters might help. Me and Pat play generic guards but other then that there's just Zaku and Jackxter.

Kira slipped out with the demonic raven on her head.

Were any admins or guard characters even around when it happened?

It was silly, but Xeloras apparently supervised and approved.

I agree, a complete reform of the watch is in due place.

Vote Krug

Generic guards don't really count when nothing gets accomplished. Plus, Zaku is rarely on as Martyn anyways, tho I could hardly blame him.

Psycheandromida wrote:

Generic guards don't really count when nothing gets accomplished. Plus, Zaku is rarely on as Martyn anyways, tho I could hardly blame him.

Well, is there anything we can actually do to stimulate the activity of characters to take the role of a guard?
I think that's probably the best way to get more people to join it.

Worked with ruta on assembling some guard armors. Guards will be getting this probably. I need to fix up the helmets first, like removing that annoying center piece that extrudes out, but this is it so far:

themodtester wrote:

Psycheandromida wrote:

Generic guards don't really count when nothing gets accomplished. Plus, Zaku is rarely on as Martyn anyways, tho I could hardly blame him.

Well, is there anything we can actually do to stimulate the activity of characters to take the role of a guard?
I think that's probably the best way to get more people to join it.

That was completely unhelpful, especially the buzzword 'stimulate'.

Dragon wrote:

Worked with ruta on assembling some guard armors. Guards will be getting this probably. I need to fix up the helmets first, like removing that annoying center piece that extrudes out, but this is it so far:

-Armor-

Looks good so far, but did you ask viral about putting those in the server? I don't know if he'd fancy it or not.

Psycheandromida wrote:

themodtester wrote:

Psycheandromida wrote:

Generic guards don't really count when nothing gets accomplished. Plus, Zaku is rarely on as Martyn anyways, tho I could hardly blame him.

Well, is there anything we can actually do to stimulate the activity of characters to take the role of a guard?
I think that's probably the best way to get more people to join it.

That was completely unhelpful, especially the buzzword 'stimulate'.

ok

I don't see why not if Ruta was the one working with me on these. They're not going to be added before the server/script change though, anyway. I'd rather not give them player animations, then turn around a week later and give them NPC animations for tiramisu.

Guards be more active, do your jobs.

End of?

Krug wrote:

Guards be more active, do your jobs.

End of?

The problem being that I'm the only guard besides Jax and he still needs his character approved.

It's not so much the guards need to get active, it's that we need more guards. In some weird turn of events everyone ended up playing evil / chaotic characters, leaving less people to take up the guard. (In the past we had more guard then we had more people to contend with)

Plus, Martyn as a Guard is a joke in it's own right. I wouldn't say he counts towards anything because I barely play the character seriously, and when I do, he's not a serious character to begin with. So it's hard to play him as your 'usual' guardsman, which is what we desperately need right now. (For example, Martyn can't fight. It's hard for him to stop anyone from doing whatever the hell they please.)

I was strongly considering applying Volten to the guard, but I'm not sure how much time I could devote to ICly patrolling around, plus, he's not exactly a combat-oriented character - he'd likely get his ass kicked by one of the supervillains walking around.

Also, there's David Hallbery. I've RPed as him once or twice; I could bring him out in emergencies, if that's okay. Not sure what his skill set is, though.

Also:

Psycheandromida wrote:

• Kira busted out of prison like a champ

This shouldn't be happening. The jail is ICly under constant watch, and the guard barracks sits right on top of it. I'm not saying escape is impossible, just really, really hard for most people. And if you do escape, hanging around in town should get you arrested again, plain and simple.

Dragon wrote:

I don't see why not if Ruta was the one working with me on these. They're not going to be added before the server/script change though, anyway. I'd rather not give them player animations, then turn around a week later and give them NPC animations for tiramisu.

It's a simple includemodel in the .qc

They use the same rig for player & npc animations.

It's not exactly hard to add a couple extra lines to ensure all round compatibility, especially if you plan to release them.

As for how to "Passive RP" as a guard, just take a leaf from the skyrim guards, they're incredibly well scripted. They patrol, fight off bandits/attacks. Ones further out will seek shelter at night covering other guards who are asleep.

In general the town currently sounds incredibly exposed the town guard should be much more vigilant. Someone causing trouble? To the stocks. Town's protection down? Investigate it.

ViralHatred wrote:

Dragon wrote:

I don't see why not if Ruta was the one working with me on these. They're not going to be added before the server/script change though, anyway. I'd rather not give them player animations, then turn around a week later and give them NPC animations for tiramisu.

It's a simple includemodel in the .qc

They use the same rig for player & npc animations.

It's not exactly hard to add a couple extra lines to ensure all round compatibility, especially if you plan to release them.

That's impossible as animation indexes override eachother causing animations to be all over the place.

Anyhow, regarding guards. What you need to do is make the guards far more powerful, but at the same time restrict the amount you have online at any given point. The problem when we were on Leyanara or Surna pre-timeskip was that EVERYONE was a guard, thus making it really hard to be a bad guy. The key is to have a certain balance.

I for example consider it entirely fair for the Guards to posess muskets. Why not? Every city should have an armory and by this age it should include firearms.

I did both player and NPC animations, but as FNox said overrides occured everywhere. Certain animations, even generic unarmed walking, resulted in T-Pose. Compiling for player, then swapping to NPC animations would force everybody to delete their models and redownload them. It's best to just wait.

There's no real way to make guards more powerful without buffing the characters themselves.

I can upgrade the equipment, though. I can make it so every guard is issued a caliver (short-barreled arquebus) instead of only the Constables, and give muskets to sharpshooters.

Dama Oscura wrote:

That's impossible as animation indexes override eachother causing animations to be all over the place.

Could always make a custom animation file and use that and have it downloaded by people joining the server including all the compatible animations.

What's the point when you can just wait a couple of days? By the time all of that excess stuff is used, the release will be prepared and it won't be necessary.

Dragon wrote:

What's the point when you can just wait a couple of days? By the time all of that excess stuff is used, the release will be prepared and it won't be necessary.

I was thinking if you were releasing it to the gmod community as a whole. It's what I did to make a bunch of my personal playermodels work back when I was into gmod.

Eh, I do the best I can alone, though I admit I've bitten off more than I can chew at the moment. However, more guards would be nice :3.

Honestly though I don't give a crap that Kira escaped, realistic or not. It gives me something to do. As for some of the things Psyche's list, the Goblin thing can only be handled if the people who play the goblins were actually willing to play on their goblins characters if Linera/others decide to do something (lol the chances of that are nil). As for Vorn, I only know of one attack on him IC and haven't heard of any others and haven't heard of any reports on the forums. Besides, he's been out of town for a long while. As for the seals, they weren't broken, the ward was a sword. The sword isn't likely in town unless whoever stole it is fucking stupid and I have no clue who took it.

So yeah, we just need more guards to catch Kira and to have the manpower to take down the remaining werebeasts (Already took care of Lloyd, working on the 'captain' and don't think Linera's strong enough to take down Taric)