Roadmap (literally)


A little update on the planned Prison transfer mod (name suggestions are welcome).

As you can (hopefully) see on them attached map, I've mapped out the possible routes between the larger and minor cities. Once again excluding Markath and Winterhold because they dont have PA-enabled jails to begin with. And while the original Idea was to only have transfers from the small cities towards the large ones (because they have more events), there is of course no technical reason to limit the process to one direction. Meaning this feature will be an available outcome in all jails.

So how will it work?
As as roughly described in earlier posts, convoy of guards and convicts will set out from the destination city towards a set target city. Along their way, the will come by one (or even two) of the marked locations on the map. I plan to construct some small dedicated rest stop locations there. with fireplaces, maybe a bench, some spot to pitch tents, and holding devices for prisoners (pillories, stocks, or whatever zap has to offer). 
So the convoi will pitch camp here for the night before continuing the journey the next day.
And then action can happen.
Depending on user setting this could either just be some mild cuddling with the guards, or an proper attack by one of 4 different assailant factions.
4 factions because of the 4 possible stop locations, meaning every location will have a dedicated attacker party, somewhat fitting to their location.
  • The one in Northwest close to solitude will be attacked by fornsworn due to the relative proximity to the Reach.
  • The one closest to solitude will be attacked by bandits because its quite literally next to a bandit controlled fortress.
  • the one in the South will be attacked by Orks due to the nearby Ork stronghold.
  • And the last one in the center by rogue mages/necromancers

A fight between the Guards and attackers will ensue.
Details are not quite set in stone yet, but whoever wins will have a different Idea on how to deal with the convicts.

NPC support:
This is more of a secondary feature Idea to make the thing a bit more visible.
There could be convoys with NPC convicts traveling along the routes, stopping at the rest stops at night. This would omit the possible attacks, but would be a cool ambient feature. Due to its non-lethal nature, it could even pick up possible followers and have them paraded around for a while. 

Interactive escort:
The leash framework has become fairly adjustable by now, and it would likely allow the player to do some shenanigans while leashed, and annoy the guards. Which would of course result in some on-the-road attitude adjustments.


So, that should cover all the the plans. 
The possible locations have already been scouted and deemed viable, and I have a clear picture on WHAT needs to be implemented. So I'll get to it.
Foreseeable challenges will likely be to figure out how to prevent random encounters and predators from messing up the player escort, and finding a good balance with the new leashing systems. But I think it should be manageable.

First step now is building the stop locations and getting a basic escort system going.
I will release that for testing and then gradually build the other feature on top of that.
See you then :)