Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-31507215-20180310214949

'''This is not a necessary addition for any time in the near future. I think it would improve the mod, but it would take a lot of effort and should not be a priority!"

The way alignment currently functions in the LotR Mod works for what it needs to do, but sometimes doesn't make sense. The greatest example of this is that if you pick grapes in Dorwinion, you lose an amount of alignment equal to what you would lose if you were to kill a citizen. Another example is that you can craft whatever you want on a faction's crafting table as soon as you get +1 alignment with that faction.

So, I am proposing that the alignment system be changed, and split into three different parts: Reputation, Trust, and Knowledge.

Reputation
Your Reputation is how NPCs view you in regards to your fighting prowess.

Gaining\Losing Reputation
Reputation would be gained by killing NPCs. The amount gained depends on the NPC (the tougher the NPC, the more reputation gained, just like current alignment), and what faction(s) you gain it for depends on what Sphere(s) of Influence you are in (just like current alignment). Note: Reputation is gained for all factions who have influence where you are - friend and foe alike.

Reputation would also be gained by completing headhunting quests. You would gain much more reputation by killing a player than you would an NPC.

If you die, a large amount of your Reputation would be lost, and you would lose Reputation (albeit a smaller amount) if a hired unit dies while under your command. You would also lose reputation (with non-Orc factions) if you kill civilians, especially if you kill children, as that would be considered dishonorable and lazy.

Uses of Reputation
A high Reputation level would be required to hire military units (not civilians) from commanders (much like current alignment). Reputation has no effect on the prices of said units, however.

If your Reputation is high enough, some enemies (i.e. NPCs from factions with negative Trust with you) will flee when you get close to them (just like the current fleeing mechanism). Whether or not a unit flees depends on how high your Reputation is, and on the unit itself.

In addition to these two things, a high reputation is required for Mordor units not to attack you.

Trust
Your Trust level shows whether or not certain factions think of you as a good person, and (as the title implies) how much they trust you.

Raising\Lowering Trust
You can gain Trust by killing NPCs, but at a much slower rate than you would gain Reputation. You would gain Trust with factions who have influence where you are and who are enemies of the slain NPC.

Another way to gain Trust is to complete Mini-Quests for NPCs, much like you gain alignment from doing so now.

You would lose Trust by killing NPCs. You would lose Trust with factions who have influence where you are and who are allies of the NPC you killed. Note: You would lose Trust much faster by killing NPCs than you would gain by it, making it hard (but not impossible) to regain trust with an enemy faction.

You would also lose trust for stealing grapes, and other similar acts, but you would lose much less than you would if you were to kill an NPC.

If such a thing is added in the future, you would also lose Trust for failing or cancelling Mini-Quests.

Uses of Trust
Trust would determine which factions are allied with you, and which ones are enemies. In most cases, factions with negative trust will attack you, and factions with positive Trust will not. A decent amount of Trust would be required to become allies with Wood-elves.

Once you gain enough Trust with a faction, you would be able to hire civilian units (including farmhands). In addition to being able to hire units, once you gain a lot of Trust, Traders (military and otherwise) will lower their prices for you - the higher Trust, the lower the price.

Mini-Quest occurrences would be determined by Trust. The higher your Trust, the more often NPCs would give you quests, and, if possible, the amount of quests you can accept at one time would increase, as well.

Knowledge
"This may not be possible (or worth it), so, if that is the case, this part of the suggestion can be ignored.''

Your Knowledge level would represent how much you know about a faction.

Gaining Knowledge
You would gain a slight Knowledge increase for a specific faction the first time you enter a biome "controlled" by said faction.

After this, Knowledge can be gained by "buying" it from smiths. Instead of buying knowledge with money, however, you would need to trade experience levels for it. To buy knowledge, you would need to click a fourth button in the smith's GUI. This will bring up a menu that will tell you your current Knowledge level (for that faction), the XP price for the next level, and have a button you can click to make the deal.

For this to work, of course, Experience must be re-added to (or unremoved from) the game.

When they are added, you should be able to purchase Knowledge from loremasters and other similar NPCs.

Uses of Knowledge
Your knowledge of a faction will limit your ability to craft (and, if possible, forge) said faction's items; the higher your knowledge of a faction, the more complex things you can craft.

Without any Knowledge of a faction, you cannot craft anything on their table, even if you have one. Here is an example of how Knowledge levels might correspond to what you can craft on a Lindon crafting table:
 * Level 1 - High Elven Bricks (including slabs, stairs, and walls), Mossy High Elven Brick
 * Level 2 - High Elven Pillars (including slabs), Carved High Elven Brick, Trimmed High Elven Brick
 * Level 3 - Lindon Crafting Table, Lindon Banner, High Elven Wood Bars, High Elven Bed
 * Level 4 - High Elven Gates, High Elven Steel Bars, High Elven Torches, High Elven Chandeliers
 * Level 5 - Lindon Tools (i.e. pickaxes, shovels, hoes, and axes), Lindon Dagger
 * Level 6 - Lindon Weapons (i.e. swords, battleaxes, spears, battlestaves, and longspears)
 * Level 7 - Lindon Armour, Lindon Horse Armour, Lindon Bows
 * Level 8 (large XP difference) - Galvorn Armour

Alignment Display
If this idea is implemented, the way alignment would be displayed would change.

Reputation
Your Reputation would be visible under the Alignment Bar, but in a different color from the value of Trust. (Only the value for the faction currently selected in the alignment bar would be visible here.) You would also be able to view your Reputation with the different factions in the Factions tab in the "L" menu.

Other players would be able to see your Reputation over your head, like the current alignment, but they would see your Reputation in relation to their faction.

''For example, you have 55 reputation with High Elves, and 23 reputation with Near Harad. You have High Elves selected in your alignment bar, so the reputation value you see under your alignment bar is 55. However, if a player who has the Near Harad faction selected in their alignment bar, the Reputation value they would see over your head would be 23.''

Trust
Trust would replace the current "alignment" in the alignment bar, but the bar would function exactly the same as before. Trust would be visible in the Factions tab in the "L" menu, in exactly the same spot as alignment is now.

Other players would see your Trust over your head just as they would with alignment now. As with alignment, Trust can be toggled on or off with the "Show Trust" option in the "L" menu. (The "Show Alignment" option would be replaced with "Show Trust".)

Knowledge
You would be able to see your Knowledge in the Factions tab of the "L" menu, as well as in the knowledge GUI of smiths, and possibly in faction crafting tables.

Other players would not be able to see your Knowledge, unless you tell them yourself.

Hopefully this all makes sense, and would be worth the effort. If something is confusing, or you notice a problem with the suggestion, please post it below so that I can try to clear it up.

Thanks for reading!

 