A few ideas on kidnapping and interrogation

[stepbystep]

First of all, the more I play this mod the more I enjoy it. 
The progression feels nice, the difficulty feels adequate, the amount of items and armors keeps it fresh and interesting.

A few ideas to enhance the kidnapping / interrogating part of the game (sorry if you heard them already):

1) Using up researched items is ok but when it comes to people not so much.
A good pirate doesn't need to know a lot about someone's work and mentality to be able to rob them... they just bonk them on the head and take away every "visible" item (Maybe after research you get an advanced robbery? I don't want to know where the gals will be looking for those extra items  ).

The "rob" option could be unlocked from the start for every "person" type (not animals and stranger creatures), and the researchable version of the person could be among the results of the robbery. This if we assume interrogation is fatal to the subject, alternatively the result of the workshop robbery could include an additional item (ie "sharp guy interrogation log") to research.

2) A pirate bent on kidnapping people would bring mancles and other kinds of bonds to ensure their victims stay put.
The necessity of this is somewhat reduced by the surrender option but it could also help dealing with enemies that you want alive but got wounded: tie first, then heal. Could just be a consumable that deals a ton on stun damage (reduced by the subject strength maybe?) to a creature on the ground at the cost of basically a whole turn (75-85% TUs).

3) Being able to grab someone while they're still on their feet and throw them at someone else causing stun damage to both, because that's awesome 

[Dioxine]

1) Won't fly since it'd both spoil the game and clutter the workshop with 30 or more strange projects from day 1; also, people would rightly ask, why enemy X needs to be researched to be robbed, and enemy Y not? Lack of research assumes lack of interest (as in, ransom him and be done with it). Adding an extra workshop job between capture and interrogation might seem like fun but IT WOULD'T BE.

2) Such items are already available, but not that easily, since how powerful they'd be when used on active enemies. Also this makes handles and knuckles more attractive vs. stun rods, since they deal some health damage too, ensuring the victim just stays down. However I'll think if this can't be enhanced further.
PS. oh yeah you can shoot enemies on the ground with rubber bullets, or whip them to incur heavy stun damage. Or smoke them. So there is no lack of options.

3) If you write code for such battlescape mechanics, sure

[stepbystep]

1) Won't fly since it'd both spoil the game and clutter the workshop with 30 or more strange projects from day 1;

True, but I'm still early in the game and my workshop screen is already cluttered to the point that I have to rely on the two filters (supply=OK and category) or the search function.
As for the spoiler part I don't know... I still don't see why wouldn't the gals strip people of their armor by the default before throwing them in the brig.

I'm not complaining btw, also I understand some things would be rather difficult given how the code works.

Meriiiiidiaaaaaan  Could you, in your infinite awesomness, make it so that the workshop is set on the filter supply=ok by default? (also throwing live enemies pretty please!)

PS. oh yeah you can shoot enemies on the ground with rubber bullets, or whip them to incur heavy stun damage. Or smoke them. So there is no lack of options.

Oh my Star Gods! You can whip stunned people on the ground?!? 

- runs off to equip whips...

[Eddie]

Warning: Whips can kill people.

on 2: The rope would be the obvious item for such a functionality and is available from the start. To avoid exploitation, it does not need to do stun damage, just prevent recovery from stun. Maybe something can be done with Yankes scripts.

[stepbystep]

Warning: Whips can kill people.

on 2: The rope would be the obvious item for such a functionality and is available from the start. To avoid exploitation, it does not need to do stun damage, just prevent recovery from stun. Maybe something can be done with Yankes scripts.

Love that.

Also, how do you use the rope? Is it just a melee weapon that causes chocking damage (which I assume works only on lightly armored, breathing enemies)?

[Eddie]

Yes. Because of the choking damage, it ignores armor. It's a bit complicated knowing which enemies it's useful for. Civilians and similar enemies have 400% choking vulnerability. Some armored enemies still have 200% choking vulnerability. Reticulans have 0% choking vulnerability, though even as they are breathing and not armored, they are immune to the rope.

[Dioxine]

Rope is a melee weapon, tho. If I'll make it ranged, the KKK goons who wield it will be frozen into place, since the AI doesn't understand the concept of limited weapon range.

Meriiiiidiaaaaaan  Could you, in your infinite awesomness, make it so that the workshop is set on the filter supply=ok by default? (also throwing live enemies pretty please!)

I disapprove of this notion.

[stepbystep]

I disapprove of this notion.

You are absolutely right, I make it sound like I'm asking for it to be applied to everyone as a default, which would be preposterous, shame on me. 

But maybe an option in the workshop screen to have it remember the current filter?
Also make it so that changing the filter on the left doesn't reset the one on the right, please?

May your will be done in vanilla as in modded
Amen.

[Meridian]

Meriiiiidiaaaaaan  Could you, in your infinite awesomness, make it so that the workshop is set on the filter supply=ok by default?

Thanks for the compliment, but Default is called Default for a reason.

(also throwing live enemies pretty please!)

what?

EDIT: no

[ohartenstein23]

what?

In his first post, I think the request is a melee-range attack that grabs a still-standing enemy and hurls them as a projectile at another enemy.

I expect the short answer to this is "no."  The long answer being that there's no way in the engine to force movement on a unit that's not being moved by the player or AI, similar to the rejected requests for teleportation and shoving mechanics.  It'd also probably be a bear to balance.

[khade]

An alternate use for ropes, where you actually tie up the stunned enemy, using up the rope, could maybe work.  As I see it, it would effectively be a high stun but might be modified by the strength of the enemy(how easily they can break the rope). Given time, most people can wiggle out, but trying to tie up someone in heavy power armor is likely to be hilariously futile.

Oh, and the game implies that your crew release those they interview, just because they rape(?) pillage and burn doesn't mean they don't have honor.  As far as I can tell, only projects that blatantly state that they kill an intelligent creature actually kill.  That would include butchering, as some intelligent creatures can be butchered, depending on how intelligent a fishman is.

[Dioxine]

Updated text from the prison cells article:

To rob a prisoner, you need to interrogate them first. Interrogated prisoners, as long as they're honorable, are released in exchange for their information.

[karadoc]

Updated text from the prison cells article:

To rob a prisoner, you need to interrogate them first. Interrogated prisoners, as long as they're honorable, are released in exchange for their information.

There's a minor problem with that text. What you really mean is that you have to research them first. 'Interrogate' sounds like a good word for it, but interrogate is a special workshop option later in the game, and that doesn't need to be done before you can rob them. So it is potentially confusing.

[Zharkov]

clutter the workshop with 30 or more strange projects from day 1

The workshop is very much cluttered already - maybe we need an option to make jobs obsolete, after certain conditions are met (e.g., no further interrogations for peeps already researched [even if they like the interrogation technics]).

[Meridian]

The workshop is very much cluttered already - maybe we need an option to make jobs obsolete, after certain conditions are met (e.g., no further interrogations for peeps already researched [even if they like the interrogation technics]).

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