Greetings friends!
So there have been a few posts recently regarding First Law: Override. We've seen a general overview, a discussion on Experience, Levels and Sponsors as well as Story & Mission Packs.
Today I'm here to talk to you about how you make your character better overall.
So obviously we have stat increases and abilities obtained via levelling up, but what about equipment?
Those familiar with my previous WiP game; CRYPTS will know about how I tackled the Dungeon Crawl system via a 'Loot Deck'. It would certainly be an easy, if not lazy choice to simply adapt this to FL:O, but as I hope you have all seen to this point, I have no intention on being lazy with this project.
Nope, gone are the old systems and instead equipment will be obtained via a series of different methods, none of them being 'kill and loot corpses'.
- That is not to say I do not like the Loot Deck system, far from it. I would instead rather try something more suitable to the game at hand.
So what is the main form of purchasing equipment?
Well we have the above board techniques, that is between Story Packs you can visit shops.
As you would expect different shops sell different things, in some cases you will find almost exact copies of one item available in another shop for a fraction of the price, this being determined by the qualities of the item. In FL:O you very much get what you pay for.
There will of course be different Shops depending on which overall Faction your team belongs to, and as long as you remain with this faction you will have these shops to hand.
At the same time there will be different stores available to different Sponsors, meaning that some Sponsors will sell certain items for more/less currency than others. It only stands to reason that if you belong to The Wraiths, you will get Hydan equipment cheaper than the UEF.
But it is important to remember, a Sponsor is exactly what they say on the tin! You wear their clothes and their brand, so if you have two team members, one a member of the Wraiths, the other a member of the UEF, how do you think one would see your sponsorship deal if they caught you running around with someone else's branded gear?
- That's right! Just because a team member has Sponsorship from a different group, no buying from that other group! And no getting them to buy it for you! If you wish to retain your Sponsorship deal you had better keep your branded goods to that of your Sponsor.
But what about the Black Market? Surely FL:O will have that?
You're right, it will, and as items purchased on the Black Market are almost always stolen or obtained via other nefarious means these are almost always 'Unbranded'.
Now unbranded items are great, they are usually cheaper than sponsorship items and can be purchased by any character regardless of Sponsor or Faction, but they don't count towards your Sponsorship.
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Ok so I've just thrown something else out there that I have not mentioned before; Sponsorship as something beyond the initial load up.
So this is something that's still in the super infant stage, but essentially in a lot of missions/stories, there will be certain tasks that your Sponsor will want recognition. This will depend on the mission and also the Sponsor, as some Sponsors will want recognition for dealing damage either physical or economical to a rival. So for every item of Sponsor Branded gear you are using your reward will be increased by a percentage taking into account your cut for increasing their publicity.
Likewise, there will also be stories and missions where your Sponsor will not want to be recognised and you will want to have unbranded goods, or (and perhaps the more fun option) have you infiltrating a rival Sponsor base to steal branded equipment to use instead of your usual set. This will of course need to be handed over afterwards.
But it does mean that if you're running around as a Rockstar in the Outer Fringe, stopping intergalactic terrorist fleets and saving the damsel in distress all the while wearing top to toe branded gear, you'll soon be rolling in piles of cash.
- You might look like a total douche, but a rich douche!
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During the course of missions you might come across equipment caches. These can of course be used for the duration of the mission and any effects they may have will be known by you in advance.
Once the mission is over you can turn these items over to your sponsor for an increased reward or you can instead file down the serial number and remove any branding present on the item, this however takes time and so can only be done between Stories.
If you have an unbranded item obtained either through theft or the Black Market then you can get it branded by your Sponsor. This of course will come at a price, and any bells and whistles you normally get from a Branded item will not be present, but it does allow you to use said item and get corporate recognition, if that is your thing, and it's cheaper than buying a whole new item, some of them unavailable to your sponsor.
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And there we have it, while the methods are not THAT varied (buy or steal) they are thematic to the world presented in the Outer Fringe.
On that note, that's all from me and I hope to see you out there!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
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