In the A24.2 feedback thread, @CrazyCandy mentioned that some of the town bonuses present you with false choices: You choose between a good option and two mediocre or bad ones.
Now I can’t access the unstable branch, but given those concerns, I can think abstractively about what bonuses could never give that problem and whether these would benifit the game. In doing so, I came with this idea, for which I will make the case:
What is the idea:
Town Reputation is one of the bonuses you can choose in the beginning, but it will effect your town throughout the game. Besides that, you can influence it throughout your game. The value of your town reputation does not live on the number line, but rather on the color wheel:
- Blue represents a crafter-based trading hub,
- Red represents a military bastion,
- Green represents a one-with-nature or religious town.
Your town reputation is how the rest of the world views you and your goals. Important formal things (like town declarations) have a huge impact on this, but so have minor decisions on the direction of your town throughout your game (which creates result 1). Now, what does this town reputation do:
- Different scores attract different people to your town. After all, different hearthlings will want to live/thrive better and find their calling in different thowns. A blue score _tends to _ attract high-mind hearthlings, A red score high-body types and a green score will see more high-spirit people. Not only does it attract people with certain high stats, but also people interested in the kind of town you are, like passionate hearthlings or hearthlings with other traits. (Also see argument 2 and remark 3)
- Traders will bring more military oriented stock to a town with a red score. people with knowledge of certain recipes will more likely go to to towns with appropriate reputation scores.
- Remember that most of these are based on chance manipulation. Most things obtained this way, will still be obtainable in other towns, though you’ll be less likely to get the chance to access them. This is the case for hearthlings, stock and recipes.
Arguments:
- Result: This basically makes the banner choice what it is: step in the direction of an attitude which you need to live up to. The fact that you influence this in every directional choice you make, means that you can come back on your choices by steering your town in a different direction. Besides that, this puts meaning in the small directional choices. Like Mer Burlyhands said: “Your banner will set that course, but it is up to you to finish it.”.
- Argument: This is a bonus for your town since different towns tend to need the hearthlings they attract. Trade hubs need crafters, strongholds need fighters and Pegrimages need people with spirit.
- Remark: This bonus does not lead to an false choice, since you need to balance the need and usefulness of mind/body/spirit for the game to be well-balanced anyway. Balancing that will balance the bonus, and will remove the false choice element of this particular bonus.