Daily Life Suggestions

Yesterday there was a documentary on the French TV about Morocco. I’m overworked until March, so I didn’t looked the whole of it, but there were scenes and gestures that I think could be used to give a more “lively” aspect to the settlements.

Among these scenes were:

  • a shepherd that threw stones to guide the flock, as far as 200 m away. There is absolutely no utility, in that, just this may give more life to the game.
    Although that reminded me of a story when an Englishman had his cows killed after a mad cow disease, then he bought cows in France. However, the French farmer had to go to England to explain what to say them because English cows obey to whistles instead of shouts and pronounced words, so it appeared they looked at the English farmer like he had the mad cow disease himself, beside being an Englishman.
  • maybe useful for the late game, when settlements will grow bigger: along what is displayed at San Isidoro museum for Neolithic Madrid, there is an oasis town in the desert where people gather by activities (builders, plumbers, healers, etc.) on the main square, so people may go there to hire them and they discuss the prices. I think it could give a vivid impression for late game, with e.g. builders, carpenters, field workers, miners, etc.

@UncasualGames Aside of real scientific things, do you think such things could be useful for the game? Maybe on a separated thread? There could be piled up various things that would have 0 utility but where you could pick whenever you need to inject more life in the game.

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Not sure if remote shepherding will work. Now it will be interesting to see different types of shepherding. Western European shepherds drive their sheep, with or without dogs, Middle Eastern Shepherds lead their sheep.and don’t use dogs. Each has its advantages.

In both cases the shepherd works closely to the flock, though dogs add a bit of range. 200m range shepherding will be unnecessarily confusing to the player. Either the flock attended or it is not, that means having the shepherd right there (or not).

  • medicine woman picking supplies
  • tracking heard animals - getting to know your new home

basic ideas that hopefully do not tie up programmers for long

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I can describe any of these in as much detail as needed.

  • People weaving cloth on looms (floor, ridged, warp weighted)
  • Making of cheese - Important as many Neolithic folk were lactose intolerant. (I can describe process)
  • People randomly praying / ritualistically dancing (life more closely tired to ritual)
  • Children gathering reeds
  • Children scaring bird from friends
  • Women picking bark from trees for tanning and to make things
  • People washing and bathing in river/stream/lake
  • Ritual “battles” (no one dies) as well as competitions of prowess
  • Children playing (random stuff)
  • Fertility priestess/priest dancing in wheat fields
  • Pregnant women
  • People brewing alcohol (I can describe in detail)
  • Lovers sneaking off to unseen locations
  • Shearing of sheep (obsidian blade)

In a full realism DLC (don’t fret, I am not speaking of the general public release)

  • Raids and their aftermath (graves, wounded, prisoners)
  • Illness/Accident/Injuries
  • Methods of healing (amputation, tooth drilling, brain surgery [yes, they did this])
  • Child loss (VERY common in this time. Maybe 2 in 5, before age 1)
  • Death of mother from birth (VERY common in this time. Maybe 1 in 10)
  • Murder/theft
  • Ritual sacrifice (Another thread exists to fight over this topic, but I likely happened)
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