Today I build the actor responses to Arthur’s actions. The general situation is: Arthur gets a report on the situation with a particular actor. Arthur responds with one of the following verbs.
Threaten
Reassure
Ignore
Promise reward
Upbraid
Praise
Send Katerfaks
General Retreat
General Attack
I am still torn as to several other possible verbs:
Send Advisor
This would allow Arthur to send one of his “personal knights” to assist the troubled general. This would boost the leadership value for the DirObject.
Plunge In
This would have Arthur jump into the fight himself in a desperate attempt to turn the tide. There’s a small chance of him getting killed.
Each of the available verbs must somehow change the DirObject in some manner that, presumably, improves their performance. This in turn depends upon the personality of the DirObject. Therefore, my first task is to identify personality traits of actors that:
1. Affect the actor’s battle performance;
2. Can be affected by one or more of Arthur’s verbs.
Existing personaltity traits, as well as the verbs that might affect them, are:
Tired_Energetic (a mood)______Threaten (increase by Treasonous_Loyal), Praise (increase by Humble_Proud)
Fearful_Angry (a mood)________
Treasonous_Loyal_____________Promise Reward (increase by Noble_Greedy)
Weak_Strong_________________
Cowardly_Brave______________
Humble_Proud________________
Leadership___________________
There’s a problem here: One action by Arthur cannot change an Actor’s intrinsic personality traits. It can affect his mood only. So do I confine the list to the two moods (Tired_Energetic and Fearful_Angry)? Shouldn’t Cowardly_Brave be susceptible to Arthur’s actions? And how exactly does Fearful_Angry work in the battle? Is the actor fearful of or angry at Arthur or the Saxons?
I think that I can answer the last question: Fearful_Angry represents the actor’s feelings towards the Saxons. It is decreased by losses to the Saxons and increased by Threaten, Upbraid, and ?Praise?
Let’s back up. What are the controlling factors that are subject to change during a battle? Obviously fear and anger play a major role; they reflect the willingness of the fighter to fight. Exhaustion plays a role, too. But those are the only transitory factors at work. The permanent factors at work are Leadership, Cowardly_Brave, and Treasonous_Loyal. I’m not sure about Humble_Proud.
But Arthur’s actions can definitely influence actors’ long-term relationships with him. If he upbraids an actor, that actor’s regard for Arthur will decline. Should it be Treasonous_Loyal? Or just pBad_Good? Perhaps I should delete Treasonous_Loyal and use pBad_Good instead…
OK, so here’s another decision: dump Treasonous_Loyal. Thus, Arthur can affect three overall traits:
Tired_Energetic__Promise Reward (increase by Noble_Greedy)
Fearful_Angry___Reassure (increase only if <0)
pBad_Good______Threaten (decrease by Humble_Proud); Upbraid (decrease by Humble_Proud)
No, here’s a better way to figure it: list the verbs and then attach the traits they affect.
Threaten________Tired_Energetic up by Fearful_Cowardly, pBad_Good down by Humble_Proud
Reassure________Fearful_Angry up by pBad_Good, pBad_Good up by Fearful_Cowardly
Ignore__________
Promise reward__Fearful_Angry up by Noble_Greedy, pBad_Good up by Noble_Greedy
Upbraid_________Tired_Energetic, Fearful_Angry, and pBad_Good up/down by Humble_Proud, Fearful
Praise___________Tired_Energetic up by pBad_Good, pBad_Good up by Humble_Proud
Send Katerfaks___Weak_Strong up
General Retreat
General Attack
Time to mull.