Another way of getting Settlers

I think the way you gain a settler should be changed.
Because you don’t get a human being randomly appearing in the world and then attends a settlement…
So here are some suggestions of how the game could be updated related to this topic:

  • Quests and Help: Some random people will be approaching your camp in either fear or need. (They will have a ! above their head to show they have a quest and a notification will pop up). For the quests I only came up with 2. One will be where a random hearthling will be running in fear begging for your defence in return to join your settlement. If you accept you will get some monsters or enemies who will try to attack the person as they are the main aim to kill. The second quest would be needs for example: “I have been lost in the woods for days looking to start somewhere fresh, I have ran out on food supplies for ages and I am starving. How about you feed me some food (Amount and what) in return I’ll join your settlement”

  • Love and Birth: The other way of getting people is by love. Now I understand this is a game for mature if I am correct? So kissy kissy should be fine or something like from Sims 4 I guess you will figure this one out. There will also be some kind of child cycle they may seem useless at first but they could be used as delivery kids in other words children who deliver stuff to a certain person in the village/city.

  • Rescue: From what I know enemies will have camps and start creating their little village then. You guys should add cages where the people will be willing to repay you will respect and loot OR they will join your settlement.

These are just some ideas to get you guys thinking if you are thinking about changing the way you gain people in the game. I find this quite useful as it changes the way you gain people through out your expansion.
Anyways. Good work so far.

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Babies are one of the most commonly asked for features, but the team has said they’re probably not going to be added several times. I’d like the other other ways of getting settlers, though.

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It isn’t that big of a stretch the cue the spawn villager script. Implementing it alongside the other events, however, is a bit trickier.

  1. Help Quest: The villager is created prior to the spawn/join event. That would let you see them but would cause conflict, since the spawn/join event creates the hearthling when it triggers. One workaround could be to do the message prompt, similar to merchants, so you don’t need to see said hearthling. If you say yes, you get attacked by x amount of x enemies, and upon success, it triggers the spawn/join. This is your best case scenario.
  2. Babies - coasterspaul’s got it answered.
  3. Rescue: If you add in an item (the cage) with black interior you can trigger the spawn/join event upon the cage’s destruction, or interaction.
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Like it has already been mentioned, babies will be difficult, since they could probably get killed, which can lead to ethical issues, at least if the game doesnt want to be rated 18+.People have discussed mechanics to avoid this, like children “running away” when they get “killed”. That would prevent a dead child and would still lead to a loss for the player, but it doesnt sound convincing.

I think the suggestion with tiny quests once your village has reached a certain state would be great. I think those options would be great:

  1. You get hearthlings depending on the growth of your town (like now). Yes, it is quite realistic that people start looking to live in your town when it gets bigger. This can be observed in big cities, where people gather around.

  2. Additionally, you can get them through tiny side quests. Like suggested, a hearthling that seeks help and joins you in return. Here are some ideas of mine:

A skinny looking hearthling approaches your town: “Heya there. As you can see I’m not in a really good state. If you could give me some food, I’ll join your cause and help you as good as I can. I’m a great blacksmith and I can craft the finest swords for you!”

  • If you take this guy, 3 food will be removed from your storage and he will automatically start as a blacksmith.
  • You won’t be able to change his job for 10 ingame days. The player will be told so before he recruits him.

A fearsome looking guy lumbers into your town, demanding to speak to the leading guy: “Hey, you there. I heard ya made yourself a name 'round here and as fate demands, I travel around to find new challanges, always looking for new adventures. I might consider joining you, but only if can beat me in a fight!”

  • When you accept his challange, he will automatically go aggro and attack your cloest military unit in sight. When he “kills” someone, it only counts as a knock out and the same happens when your units “kill” him. He is a fighting unit with some mediocre equipment (footman, archer or knight) and will receive a heavy buff for the fight duration to give you a good challange.
  • You won’t be able to change his job for 10 ingame day. The player will be told so before he recruits him.

A scared small hearthling runs screaming into your town: “Help! Please help me! The wolves are chasing me!”

  • When you offer himn to help, wolves will spawn close to him and try to kill him.
  • He will not have any pre-leveled job, but he will come with some worker clothes on already

What I like about these ideas is, that hearthling do have some kind of experience already when they join you. It’s unrealistic that a mid-age man/woman joins you and has nothing learned yet in his/her whole live.

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[quote=“AaronD, post:4, topic:26961”]
It’s unrealistic that a mid-age man/woman joins you and has nothing learned yet in his/her whole live.
[/quote]I guess that might be why I always pictured Hearthlings as a bunch of lost college-age students for some reason.

Adding to the topic at hand, I’d also like to mention my earlier suggestion to Make Travelers More Interesting. I came up with some quests travelers could bring, including the whole defending thing, but I didn’t think of Hearthlings staying and joining your town as a reward. I could definitely see this working with some of my suggestions there.

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Just do the Migration waves that both Dwarf Fortress and Gnomoria has.
Relatives to the current Hearthlings will of course move in and your numbers will grow causing you to have to get more food and more housing/beds.

Some of them should have basic skills in a random class just for good measure.