What does "NPC me" mean to you?

[Abaddon]

It seems different mods have very different definitions.

To me, a npc nation should be lead the best it can with the limited attention available.

Some seem to activly attack npc nations, others do nothing other than banking...

Where does your opinion lie?

 

[Fulton]

The NPCs in Varica are divided into two sets: playable and non-playable. The non-playable NPCs are there provide reasons for player activity. They are antagonists, trading partners, and story hooks. They actively pursue their own agendas.

Playable NPCs focus on internal development, but at a slower rate than active PC nations. If they have been formerly played by someone, then I will continue to play them along these lines. For example, the Nimosans focus on developing trade links, the Dolu purely on internal growth, and the Oerdan are independent minded and attempt to move themselves out of the Varican sphere and into a thune one.

That being said, there are usually only 2-3 'hyper-active' NPCs at a time, providing key antagonists during the game. Examples are the Sunta and Manische in the current version of Varica. Other NPCs are 'active', meaning that they are doing more than just quietly banking and developing their economies. The Romadi before they had a player, Tessil, Teraldur, Tikeecee and Five Claw are current example. As the game needs it, other players become active. With the introduction of a Nakar and a Romadi player, the Gamars and Darian March are now 'active'.

When someone says to NPC them for a turn, I attempt to follow a domestic policy similar to what they already carried out, but without any offensive moves.

 

[Luckymoose]

It means control it to a lesser extent than than the player could.

 

[Justo]

Continue the Nation on its previous course(be it good or bad) if not otherwise advised.

 

[Karalysia]

Ignore the nation for the entire turn.

 

[Jason The King]

Depends on the NES.

 

[alex994]

A good question to mods out there abaddon! I applaud this action of yours!

 

[Terrance888]

I cut their spending in half and play as if normal.

No NPC wars.

I choose a couple to be active and play them myself: I send NPC orders to myself at the start of a turn. Then I have other NPCs where I maintain their status, and the rest I let live to be resurected by a player or to fight off invasions.

 

[Dachs]

I don't think I really had a coherent conception of what NPCs were supposed to do in my most recent mini-NES. Some of them played fairly well, some of them didn't; some of them were semi-active, some of them weren't at all. I employed non-player movements of peoples but I dunno if those count?

 

[Abaddon]

People are missing what I feel is more important. If someone cannot get orders in an asks to be npc'd for the turn... What do you do?

 

[Dachs]

Depends on what is done to them, how interesting the area of the world in question is to me personally, and my personal willingness to waste time on making their lives exciting.

 

[Karalysia]

Rain hellfire and brimstone on them.

 

[Dreadnought]

Regular NPCs generally just "exist" and have limited roles unless they are a major nation.

If a player asks to be NPC'ed, isn't it best to simply continue the same sort of spending/actions the player did a turn ago?

 

[Dachs]

If a player asks to be NPC'ed, isn't it best to simply continue the same sort of spending/actions the player did a turn ago?

Highly context-sensitive.

 

[Kraznaya]

It seems different mods have very different definitions.

To me, a npc nation should be lead the best it can with the limited attention available.

Some seem to activly attack npc nations, others do nothing other than banking...

Where does your opinion lie?

A normal NPC should do everything a player could do, played to the best possible IC actions.

A player asked for NPCing indicates a dereliction of duty and lack of interest. A player shouldn't leave his nation and come back to find it better than he found it. After one turn, the country should be in a state of political gridlock symptomatic of the player's ruler losing any initiative in a turn. An NPCing longer than that shouldn't occur as the player should be dropped.

 

[Ninja Dude]

Or you know, they could be going without internet access for a bit and still wish to participate in the NES once they get back

 

[Kraznaya]

If you go without internet for longer than a week you probably shouldn't be NESing anyway.

I forgot to mention that guidelines work too. Also, if you need to skip a turn because you're "busy," you have an interest problem that would be better suited to you quitting the NES.

 

[Northen Wolf]

If you go without internet for longer than a week you probably shouldn't be NESing anyway.

I forgot to mention that guidelines work too. Also, if you need to skip a turn because you're "busy," you have an interest problem that would be better suited to you quitting the NES.

Some people have thing called "real life", ever heard of it?

 

[Abaddon]

But if your only asking for a one off npcing after sending orders for weeks an weeks?

 

[Justo]

It still depends on the situation. The country may have already been heading on a bad path(alienating its people or ruling party). NPCing will only continue this course in most cases and only make things worse. During the good times hardly any effect will be felt.

IMO with the exception of things like holidays(which can be anticipated in advance and basic guidelines be sent in a worse case situation), health issues or internet outages even basic orders should be more than possible to send. Detail isn't necessary to provide basic deployment, diplomacy and spending orders. During my entire time in NESing I think I've only had to be NPCed once or twice and these were during holidays after a base guideline had been sent.