Bounty mod idea (One that I'll be making)

[esthermoon]

Not 100% sure that this is the place for this, but I had an idea for a mod, and conveniently enough, it's one that I (or anyone else that's even vaguely competent with Oblivion scripting) can actually make.

The basic premise is that realistically speaking, considering the lack of advanced technology in the (fairly vague) time period that the game is set in, someone's bounty isn't exactly going to be stored in some mystical karma system that the Imperial Legion has access to, and rather just scribbled on a piece of paper somewhere in their offices. It wouldn't be hard to add such a piece of paper, or even a place for them all to be stored, i.e. some sort of archive. After playing for a while, I managed to rack up a bounty of about 10,000 gold by trying to avoid guards, who pursued me to the ends of Cyrodiil to let me know that I'd violated the law. I figured there should be an easier (though still not necessarily easy) way to clear that bounty, straight-off, by forging your name and bounty out of the proposed archive. It could just be in the Imperial Legion Offices, or it could be in a full-fledged and well-guarded vault under the prison or similar.

 

This would be a really easy mod to make, and I'd be surprised if no-one had already made it. Searching TES Nexus pretty thoroughly hasn't turned up anything to this effect.

It also wouldn't be too hard to extend a mod to make bounties a bit more realistic, and, for example, add some functionality to capture and disguise people as yourself to turn them in for your bounty.

 

The concept seems in some ways similar to Reneer's Guard Overhaul, but this one wouldn't actually modify the behavior of the guards at all; it would just add an item in some secure place in the IC (Probably somewhere in the Prison complex) that, if you can get to, will clear your bounty, effective likely after a day or two, for realism's sake.

 

The archive would have to be quite well-guarded, but obviously would require a bit of sneaking to get through without racking up a further bounty and making the attempt counter-productive. I'd say that you'd have to balance it out for non-stealth characters, but realistically speaking, it's not like you're going to get in any other way.

 

If such a mod (or a similar one) exists - which I'd expect it would, but apparently can't find - do let me know. If not, any ideas, criticisms, etc. would be appreciated.

 

UPDATE:

Basic script written up and file uploaded to TES Nexus, here: http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34850

I'll work on extending it now.

[Megatarius]

I like the idea of being able to do that. While you're at it, you should make two other changes to the bounty system:

 

1. If you kill someone and there's nobody else in a certain radius, the bounty for murder goes away. If there is somebody nearby, they get an AI package that makes them run to the nearest guard. (Don't know if that's possible...)

 

2. If you get a bounty that doesn't go away because people were around to witness it, it doesn't actually get added to you until one game day later, to give the guards enough time to send out pigeons or something with the message. I like that it clears after a day or two, but it shouldn't start right away either.

 

 

That would be a nice alternative to the bug-filled RGO.

[esthermoon]

I like the idea of being able to do that. While you're at it, you should make two other changes to the bounty system:

 

1. If you kill someone and there's nobody else in a certain radius, the bounty for murder goes away. If there is somebody nearby, they get an AI package that makes them run to the nearest guard. (Don't know if that's possible...)

 

2. If you get a bounty that doesn't go away because people were around to witness it, it doesn't actually get added to you until one game day later, to give the guards enough time to send out pigeons or something with the message. I like that it clears after a day or two, but it shouldn't start right away either.

 

 

That would be a nice alternative to the bug-filled RGO.

 

Well, those features are pretty much what RGO does. I don't really plan to take RGO's place; I've used it quite a lot with no problems at all. I just want to put in some alternative methods to clear your bounty than to earn money, which gets ridiculous and tedious when your bounty gets beyond about 4000. So any further suggestions would be great, but I'd rather not mimic RGO. It'd be in bad taste, really.

[Megatarius]

I didn't know those features were in RGO.

 

The last time I used RGO, it made my enemies just stand around, not attacking me.

[esthermoon]

I didn't know those features were in RGO.

 

The last time I used RGO, it made my enemies just stand around, not attacking me.

 

Well you should probably complain to Reneer about that; not me.

 

Anyway, I wrote up the script and attached it to a book sitting on the desk in the Imperial Legion Offices. I'll update soon with a link to the TES Nexus entry.

[Megatarius]

I know. I'm just saying. Apparently a lot of people had that problem and it may or may not be fixed. I haven't checked in a while.

 

Anyway, that is a cool idea.