Player Input: Professions

Casanova. (Better relations with NPCs of opposite sex)

Casanova is not really a profession - that would belong more in the strengths/weaknesses dept.

Smith: either quicker advancment down related tech trees, or quicker production of smithed equipment.

Ranger: Speed bonus in forests, larger radius for seeing enemy units.

Scholar: mundane research bonus

Sage: magical research bonus

Merchants get a higher per turn gold income based on how much gold they have in the bank.  The merchant player has to make a risk-reward call: do I keep my money in the bank to accrue more interest or do I spend on a big project now?

I'm not sure about this, it just seems that Channelers wouldn't live normal lives.

So propose the profession

God King: can aquire more mana or attract more followers, because the sovereign is the faith.

Mount and Blade has a past history thing where you select what your character did at each stage of their life. It was neat, if the choices were a little basic. It gave the options in the style of an actual character history, instead of a tickbox from a list. While I do not mind a tickbox from a list, I believe it would be a shame to gather a large list of past histories, then be able to pick 1 per game. I reckon I would fall into a playstyle, pick the one that benefitted it the most, then stick with it. I may try a few other playstyles, but I still would not really use most of them.

I would prefer to pick multiples. You generally do not go Born > Mason > Planetary Overlord of Pain and Suffering.

Anyway, my list

Explorer: + sight bonus and starts with random points of interest nearby already known

Blacksmith: + equipment production for troops

Community Leader: + pop growth/morale

Mercenary Captain: start with a few crappy troops

Monk: + mana regen

Scholar: + research

Shepherd: + animal related farming

Guard: + City defence

Thats all off the top of my head, another few thoughts while they came out:

Random events being able to use past history. A building gets damaged by fire? Mason past helps fix. Merc band raiding your farmland? Merc captain hires them. Old relic dug up by farmer? Scholar recognises it and puts it to use.

Haberdasher - increased trade income, everyone loves your amazingly shiny buttons.

Definitely need something for magic using types:

Curator (Spell book bonus or research bonus)

Priest (Healing spell bonus)

Mortician/Necromancer (summon skeleton spell)

General occupations:

Astrologer (Increase in prestige)

Horse/Bear/Lion breeder (starts out with Beast taming tech)

Executioner - (Decrease in Prestige, but increase in Strength)

Messenger - (Increased movement speed)

Your soverign was alive 100 years ago? I didn't know that. Anyway these are my ideas: -

Bandit: Can send out raiding parties to steal from trade routes / villages

Judge: increases public order

Inventor: Increases research speed (May also work like creativity in GalCiv II, flashes of inspiration and such like)

Carpenter: Major increase in producing low-tiered buildings, no bonus for higher tiers.

I'd love to see "Spy" as one, but without an esponiage system I'm really not sure what it would do.

Noble - Improves traits of your spouse (which will get passed on to your kids)

Sailor - Bonus to naval combat or ship building.

Alchemist - Some potion bonus.

Artist/Sculpter - Bonus prestige.

Beggar - Start with a random magical item or companion, (lucky coin or a pet rat etc)

You know I was thinking Warcraft right through the main post.

Okay, time to get creative.

Dragon Farmer: Your history with farming dragons for profit (no they didn't like it much) has made you hostile to most of them. Less Dragons on your team but better at fighting dragons (+20%).

Pretty Poser: Your job of old was to stand around look good. This won you many 'friends', but more gold. +20% trade income.

Patron of Metal: Your ability to shape metal was impressive! Metal - extracting, processing, finishing, listening. You knew it all and it still comes naturally to you. Improves metal ore resoruces and cost of production.

Soil Worker: You listen to the soil. The sound of the picks grating accross metal filled you with joy. The soil workers would sing their ideas in epic songs. The hidden knowledge kept secrect by coded lyrics. You still carry with you the Soilworkers song of the damned. +20 depression, +20 to assassins since you know of the silent stalker and the preadtaor.

Jack of All Trades: Master of none. You know almost nothing about everything. But that means you can trick anyone about any subject they don't know. Better at diplomacy and a small boost to everything.

Fire Domain: Your cleric has access to fire spells.... wait... crap wrong game.

Confesser: Your work as a priest of the local religious sect has given you insight inot others dealings and a lack of any morals to hold you back. Improves information gathering (spys?) and gives a fear bonus to diplomacy.

(Yes I REALLY like traits okay.)

Regardless of which professions are put in, I would like to see more professions that affect the sovereign themselves.

When Elemental was first on the drawing board the idea that you could either spend all your essence on your cities or become a powerful Sauron-like warrior really attracted me.

I liked the idea of one very powerful city, with one god-like unit who can easily crush the enemies...so I'd like to see more professions that affect the Sovereign.

Rather than a warrior being able to pack better peons how about being better himself at things? Armorer for extra defense, or Lumberjack for Extra Strength, etc.

I'd love to see a bit more variability in how we go about our very game.

Why click what you are - why not the legendary personality test of jagged alliance 2?

Upbringing:

-spoiled

-nurtured

-neglected

-Stern, Legalist, Authoritarian parents (Consequentialism)

-Stern, Confucian, Authoritarian parents (Virtue Ethics)

Family Size

-single parent

-two parents

-extended family

Siblings

-only child -> gets combat bonuses when fighting in a small army/ dungeoneering

-identical twin -> special event later in game

-companion brother -> diplo bonuses with random male leader

-companion sister -> diplo bonuses with random female leader

-only male with many sisters -> diplo bonuses with female leaders, penalties with male leaders

-only female with many brothers -> diplo bonuses with male leaders, penalties with female leaders

-many siblings -> can join a military unit, will give combat bonuses to that unit

Early History:

-bully -> Intimidation bonuses with same sex, NPC less likely to join, increased loyalty of blood-line Champions

-womanizer -> diplo bonuses with opposite sex

-Idiot Savant -> pick one area to greatly increase, slightly reduces all other areas

-youth leader ->armies led by Sov move faster, with less upkeep

-athelete -> faster movement speed and attack speed

-bookworm -> more mana per essence (20%)

-hedonist ->buildings/roads cost more upkeep, but buildings give more prestige and roads give more profits

Later History:

-professional soldier -> stronger soldiers, less upkeep for soldiers

-Royal Soldier (Knight, Samurai) ->stronger soldiers, more prestige for Champions, increased Royal loyalty

-mercenary -> greatly reduced upkeep for soldiers, Mercenaries cost less

-librarian -> more research points per city, science buildings cost less

-prostitute -> diplomacy easier with opposite sex

-royalty (duke, prince, king) -> Increase in City prestige, certain buildings more expensive

-governor (cities cheaper to build, citizen taxes increased 20%)

-artisan (merchant"vendor", mason, shoesmith, artist, skinner/tanner) all Markets and Trade routes give more money

**large difference between a merchant of small-time goods and a Minister of Business affairs merchant

-Minister of Administration (cheaper Upkeep, Roads cheaper to construct)

-Minister of Finance (extra income equal to 5-10% total gold supply in vaults)

-Minister of Architecture ( buildings cost less, and give a small amount of extra prestige, even if normally would present no prestige)

-commoner (farmer, shepard, herdsman) -Farms and Domesticated animals give more food. Farms and Pastures cheaper to build.

-servant  All houses can hold more people (30-50%?), yet prestige penalty on cities.

-slave (farms, orchards, plantations more effective. Food feeds 20% more people)

-teacher (Schools give more Science output)

-priest (Brahman, Preacher, Rabbi, Monk) -easier to imbue essence (cheaper), especially to make caster heroes, more spell points/mana gained from Crystal Shards

-prophet  -spell research is faster, Can see important areas on the map (revealed), are warned when certain events are close at hand

He could always just be a Knight before hand and be able to toaly hit stuff with swords.

Or if its female she could be saved by a knight. Repeatedly. Infact it would be her primary profession. Perhaps should could have longer hair as a bouns. (This is a joke btw)

Tasunke, whats with the siblings and stuff? "Bully" isn't supposed to be a job lol.

Beastmaster - Recruit X free units drawn from surrounding wildlife

Warrior - Improved combat stats (tier 2), + increased diplomacy with war-like factions, decreased diplomacy with peaceful factions

---

Soldier - Improved combat stats (tier 1), + units on the battlefield have improved stats (tier 1)

Sergeant - Improved combat stats (tier 1), + units on the battlefield have improved stats (tier 2)

Lieutenant - Improved combat stats (tier 1), + units on the battlefield have improved stats(tier 3)

Captain - Improved combat stats (tier 1), + units on the battlefield have improved stats(tier 4)

General  - Improved combat stats (tier 1), + units on the battlefield have improved stats (tier 5)

----

Diplomat - Increased diplomacy stats (duh)

I was going to propose this also but as the perk I was thinking of getting more loot from raided caravans and having a better ability to see them (i.e. you know how they think, how fast they can go and what they will do to try and avoid you so you can guess where they are).  Maybe let us see all caravan movement in explored territory even if no one is there to see it.  I think we were already going to be able to raid them but your idea sounds a little more automatic.

Can you explain how this works?  That was a game I missed.

+1 for the jagged alliance personality test. That was awesome and worked like a charm.

If the test is not going to be in there - which would be a shame - I would like to see just the generic professions like craftsman and then maybe a few subprofessions, merchant with a few subprofessions, clerc, priest, warrior... You know the drill. Minor changes can influence a game pretty well, since +2 gold per turn does not sound like a lot but over the course of a game it amounts to 1000 gold or more.

That is assuming the game will last at least 500 turns of course. A standard game of Civ IV on a standard map lasts maybe 350 if you take your time.

I did more of a combined Histories.

Only the later history is actual professions

agree 100%. If you really were a being of mystical energy that people of the time don't understand because their history has been destroyed, people would look at you in disgust, fear, or disdain. You wouldn't be the happy go lucky farmer, woodcutter or miner who just decides to get up one day and rule a nation. Sorry, but that just seems cheesy and a half. I wouldn't mind having backgrounds, which could be explained in the traits and weakness descriptions. Or done as something like Dragon Age, where it explains who you were borne unto i.e Human noble, bastard, rich. Blah blah blah. but as for professions I think they just come out wrong for what is trying to be portrayed here.

City Governer: The soveriegn used to be the governer for a small settlement that survived the war. Now that he seeks to become a soveriegn, he has a settlement to begin with (at no essence cost).

Magician: Your soveriegn made a living being a spell caster. His duties as a magician likely included casting simple spells to aid peasents (like fix broken stuff), cantrips to impress the locals, to casting the odd advanced spell for those who could pay for your rare services. The net effect is you have a few bonuses to city management, have a mana regeneration bonus, and might begin the game knowing a few spells.

Warlord - cheaper soldiers

Soldier (rank n' file) - stronger soldiers

Combat Engineer -cheaper seige engines, with longer attack range (higher attack/damage)

GodKing- prestige bonus in cities

Mercenary - bonus with Mercenary NPCs, favorable for NPCs. all bought mercs are cheaper and have full loyalty

Champion- stronger Sov, better relations with most NPC champions, some champs will have a "grudge" against you. Bonus for Quests/Dungeons

Royalty(The King)- Increased loyalty for all subjects

Diplomat- cheaper treaties with peaceful nations, Diplomacy bonus with all factions

Royal Overseer/Governor/Minister-> less upkeep for cities/roads, roads are cheaper to build

Chief Architect-> all buildings give prestige, pretige buildings give more prestige

Chief Mason-> all buildings cheaper

Grand Librarian -> Science buildings give more science

Wizened Sage -> citizenry gives more science

Tax Collector/Vizier -> citizenry gives more taxes

Merchant King -> commerce buildings and trade routes give more gold

Inventor -> upgrades cost 50% less

Magical Advisor -> spells cost 20% less mana

Weapon smith- Bonus to weapon production

Armor smith- Bonus to armor production

Alchemist- Bonus to potion production

Unemployed - Bonus to free time.