Proposal
With the rise of the Empires Update, players who are in Clans can now take Castaways from the open sea and put them to work on islands that they claim, opening up shops like those on pre-existing settlements. While this sounds nice, in truth the worthiness of shops is questionable, with all of them reusing the stock of those found around the War Seas, and Castaways may look out-of-place when viewing multiple at once. If we were allowed to customize their appearances and play with what they sell, then they could become worthwhile investments.
Details
Castaway/Worker Customization
Castaway Workers should be customizable by whoever captured the Island (for Personal builds) or by the Clan Leader/Co-Leader (for Clan builds). If you are able to customize a Worker’s appearance, you can interact with them and click a unique [Appearance] button, like with Deckhands.
From there, you could either give them items from your inventory to wear, or you could open up the standard Character Customization menu from when you create a file or visit a Tailor. Alternatively, it could be treated like with Deckhands, in which there is a preset number of “themes” that can be picked from; this would limit creativity, but it would save on time spent implementing the feature by reusing assets.
If the Character Customization menu was chosen, then the Castaway could also have unique Shirt options bearing your Clan Logo.
The overall gist of this section?
- Allow for the appearance of Castaway Workers to be customized by:
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- Giving them items from your inventory. Most work, but most creativity.
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- By recycling the Character Customization menu. Less work, some creativity.
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- By recycling the Deckhand Appearance Menu. Almost no work, but not much creativity.
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- Only the owner of the Personal build or the Leader/Co-Leaders of the Clan for Clan builds can customize their workers.
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- Give unique Shirt options to Workers if the C.C. Menu is chosen that use your Clan Logo.
Shop Stock Customization
Currently, Castaway shops are mostly there for the convenience of having one more place to sell stuff off. Most shop types perform the same functions as those found in every other settlement, while the Fishmonger straight-up sells nothing. If the stock of Castaway shops could be customized, then there’d not only be more individuality between clans, but there’d also be more of a use for some of the more niche types.
Obviously, we can’t just make a Worker sell everything we want, or else the game would become trivialized. Here’s the limitations I have in mind:
- Workers can only sell items of the same category they would normally sell (Tailors can only sell Vanity-based items, Food merchants can only sell usable Food, yada yada).
- The player must sacrifice a large number of the item they want the Worker to sell in order for it to be sold, going from, say, 50 of a Common item, to 75 of a Rare item.
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- Workers cannot sell Boss drops, the Lost Envoy/Diplomat set, Sunken items, nor any Dark Sealed Chest armor sets, as well as any Modified items. This applies to Seasonal/Limited items too, in case that wasn’t apparent.
- Custom Stock has a doubled restock time, and only partially replenishes if there is still stock left by the time the Restock time arrives.
With these limitations, Clan Shops won’t be able to trivialize other aspects of the game, yet would still be able to become more worthwhile to invest in. Armorers could finally sell weapons. Tailors could have more diverse selections. Fishmongers would actually do something. Do you see where I’m getting at? If the stock of Clan Shops could be customized, then there’d be a practical reason to buy up shops and kidnap “hire” Castaways. It’d also incentivize building shopping areas outside the defenses of a claimed island, to allow for other players to buy from them and to potentially increase a clan’s perceived goodwill.
As for the tl;dr of this section?
- Players should be able to give certain Workers a large number of an item to make the Shop sell that item normally, within reasonable limitations.
- Customizing the stock of a Shop will make building them worthwhile, and it would increase diversity between Clans.
Reason to Add?
Appearance Customization
The reason is simple; some people might want their castaways to look as good as possible, but their appearance is a complete diceroll. There’s really no downside to adding customization options for them.
Stock Customization
Most shop types are relatively worthless to use aside from being able to sell stuff to them, and being able to control what they sell to a degree could make them more useful not only to Clan members, but to those visiting a clan’s island. It would also create more reliable ways to obtain certain armor pieces, such as the Titanium set, or weapons, such as Swords. It could also allow for themed shop stocks; if you had a clan themed around bladed weapons, you could have an Armorer sell Cutlasses and Greatswords. If your clan requires the Maid Outfit (I know from experience), you can have a Tailor sell Maid Tops and Skirts. Overall, this allows for Clan Shops to be more useful.
To sum up the entire suggestion, give players greater customization of Working Castaways to allow for them to become reasonable, functional additions to a Clan Island.
