Unconscious Execution/Kill Move (and Corpse Disposal)

[TylerValentino]

Hey, so I wasn't sure whether to post this in "Feature Requests" or "Bug Reports" as I have a suggestion derived from a bug. So some bandits came upon my base and attacked me and my squad. I beat them, but I had to go to work so I saved and quit. When I got home and loaded my game, the game ran smoothly until it loaded the bodies of the bandits i had beat. The game started lagging hard.

I also realized that the bandits could wake up if their injuries were not fatal, if there was an option to execute an unconscious enemy and then dispose of the bodies, by fire or something it would add a realistic way to dispose of bodies, instead of just disappearing like in most games. As for bodies with nobody to dispose of them, like people killed in the middle of the desert maybe the bodies could decay over time, or be eaten by scavengers like vultures (if animals were implemented) or cannibals.

Either way my game has been lagging since i killed the bandits, i don't know if it even is the ragdolls making the game lag or if its something else. So that's my Feature Request/Bug Report, sorry for the funny post.

Thanks

[Blackbird]

I really hope executions are implemented in the finished game. Even better if one of them was the option for your group to resort to cannibalism.

[kain_lei]

I like the idea of corpse decay. I can imagine a field of skeletons outside of my walls... >:D

Once wildlife is implemented, it would be really cool to have it interact with corpses as well. Not just vultures, but unwanted dangers, like hyenas or wolves, that might give players a reason to clean up the corpses.

[ZombieBear]

For disposing of the bodies, there could several options. One would be a graveyard, with the options between mass graves for bandits, and personal graves for your workers. (mass graves could also work for your workers if you feel like being a dictator). The other option would be a crypt/mausoleum, where you can store the in an ever expanding underground cavern system, honoring your many conquests.

If we get some invasions going on, the ability to make a skull pile would also be morbid, but thematically appropriate, using it to strike fear in others.

[Clawdius Talonious]

As for the execution of downed foes, it has been discussed quite often. The general consensus as I was aware of it last time was, since if we'll be able to execute enemies our enemies will execute us, it should wait for a time when we can have larger factions and we find out little things like how money will work when we're closer to the games release, so that we'll be able to loot our fallen foes and be looted. When the game adds the severing of limbs death may be a more likely outcome in some situations that you can survive currently. Eventually, I'd say that an execution move from allies and foes alike based on reputation, such that if your faction leaves no one alive, if one of your allies goes down nearby foes are more likely to try to kill them. Personally I'd put slave labor higher on the list than an execute move, as the vast majority of the bandits I hit die. I stood around in Traders Edge until all the shopkeepers guards stopped getting up the other day, just to see how many I could easily kill and if they regenerate at all.

As for corpse disposal, here is something I posted awhile back

As for the body decay, I would love to see the bodies get picked over by NPCs, perhaps even get gathered up by NPCs accounting for what happens to the corpses. It's more than a little disconcerting to see a corpse disappear right next to you, so perhaps one option is to simply disable the "decay" functionality for corpses within a certain distance of the camera. In the end however, I'd really like to see there be something useful to be done with corpses. For example, from what I understand once some of the more caustic fluids are removed, bodies can make useful fertilizer. How cool would it be to have a sort of corpse processing area, where you compost bodies and make fertile soil? The cannibal race could cut to the chase and process bodies for more, erm, immediate consumption. Perhaps the cannibal race could utilize other bits of the bodies as well, working human bones into their armors to be more imposing, that sort of thing.

To me it seems that corpses would not go to waste in a desolate land, especially not if they could be put to better use. Even if some of the factions held the use of human remains as taboo and wouldn't make use of them in any way, that would add another aspect to the game. Perhaps a few factions would dislike any use of human remains other than burial, many factions would frown upon staking your enemies out to die of exposure as a warning to others, most people in the world would cease friendly relations if they suspected you of cannibalism.

Those possibilities would likely require very little in the way of new AI interaction routines, the animations for picking up bodies are already present, and it would not only solve the whole "body decay" issue but make the world feel more alive, and present you with more options without some simple binary right/wrong as is too often the case in games today. The decisions on how you would deal with human remains would give your faction diversity that would even allow for replayability. Do you bury your dead this game, use them for compost? Or do you eat them, decorate your armor with the bones of your foes, and place their heads on spears outside your settlements?

[ZombieBear]

As for the body decay, I would love to see the bodies get picked over by NPCs, perhaps even get gathered up by NPCs accounting for what happens to the corpses. It's more than a little disconcerting to see a corpse disappear right next to you, so perhaps one option is to simply disable the "decay" functionality for corpses within a certain distance of the camera. In the end however, I'd really like to see there be something useful to be done with corpses. For example, from what I understand once some of the more caustic fluids are removed, bodies can make useful fertilizer. How cool would it be to have a sort of corpse processing area, where you compost bodies and make fertile soil? The cannibal race could cut to the chase and process bodies for more, erm, immediate consumption. Perhaps the cannibal race could utilize other bits of the bodies as well, working human bones into their armors to be more imposing, that sort of thing.

To me it seems that corpses would not go to waste in a desolate land, especially not if they could be put to better use. Even if some of the factions held the use of human remains as taboo and wouldn't make use of them in any way, that would add another aspect to the game. Perhaps a few factions would dislike any use of human remains other than burial, many factions would frown upon staking your enemies out to die of exposure as a warning to others, most people in the world would cease friendly relations if they suspected you of cannibalism.

Those possibilities would likely require very little in the way of new AI interaction routines, the animations for picking up bodies are already present, and it would not only solve the whole "body decay" issue but make the world feel more alive, and present you with more options without some simple binary right/wrong as is too often the case in games today. The decisions on how you would deal with human remains would give your faction diversity that would even allow for replayability. Do you bury your dead this game, use them for compost? Or do you eat them, decorate your armor with the bones of your foes, and place their heads on spears outside your settlements?

Sounds good. As for uses of corpses, one we forget about is at very least burning for fuel. Adding fuel to the game would be needed first, but being able to stoke the fires of industry with the corpses of your foes would be spiffy.