Okay. As far as I can tell, here's what setting MK_COUNTER to 1000 does:
1) Prevents Diligence from helping you ever again. If you talk to her, she calls for the guards and you get another Call_MK wave of Harmonium Guards.
2) If you are dumb enough to talk to any surviving stationary or patrolling Harmonium guards again, they go hostile and you get another Call_MK wave of Harmonium Guards.
That's it. There's no respawning waves, Harmonium that you walk by that weren't previously hostile don't go hostile the moment they see you or anything like that.
In light of that, here's what I'm thinking:
I'm now convinced that Diligence was only meant to call off the guard for minor infractions, not for murder. So, Diligence will no longer give you a "free kill". Still, in the vanilla game, even her stated intent to call off the guard for minor infractions doesn't actually work. I want to keep the fix where she *does* deaggro the guard for minor infractions - the rationale is that she is in fact setting a variable linked to Harmonium hostility, so she really was intended to have an effect.
I was thinking it would be good to only add the MK_Counter 1000 set if you actually kill a guard (and that will still happen, more on that below), but if I don't set it to 1000 as soon as someone in the Festhall is killed, then this exploit becomes available: Kill someone in the Festhall, then go outside and annoy a poet groupie till they call the guards, then run to Diligence and have her deaggro the guard for murder. So you'd still have a "free kill". Bleah.
So, what I'm thinking needs to be done to make this all work is:
1) Killing anyone who currently gets the Call_MK Harmonium after you should also set MK_Counter to 1000.
2) Killing guards should set MK_Counter to 1000.
3) Keep fixes to Diligence that can deaggro guards called on you for infractions that do NOT set MK_Counter to 1000, meaining, annoying poet groupies and such.
As far as your suggestions, nevill:
On the Harmonium issue:
1) Force attacking or killing any of the residents with some obvious exceptions should set the value to its max (as per dialogue).
Yes, but only if killing them gets the Harmonium called on you in the vanilla game. (This *does* mean mostly everyone in the Clerk's Ward and Festhall).
2) Same goes for most of the Lower Wards denizens.
Not unless they have the Call_MK in their script already (everyone in the Market, and Giltspur, do). HOWEVER, note that if you attack *anyone*, and a Harmonium guard is close enough to see it, they will aggro, and killing that guard will get you set to 1000.
3) Killing any of the guards also should set 'MK_Counter' to 1000. I thought that something like this already was in vanilla. I'll check it out. Anyway, there should be some merit in *not* fighting back.
Yes, though since the aggroed guards will continue to chase you and make any other nearby Harmonium also aggro, the utility of this is fairly limited.
4) I am personally leaning to let Sarhava set that variable too if you attack her. She does threaten you to summon the guards and she is a noble. That is enough for them to care.
No. Sarhava is one of like maybe 6 citizens in the Clerk's Ward that don't get the Harmonium after you if you kill them. I don't see it as plausible that that was accidental. Also, see State 7 in her dialogue... even she doesn't think the Guard will help her.
5) Stealing money from the hat is obviously a less heinous crime than murdering someone, don't you think? I am for changing that so it increments 'MK_Counter' by 1.
I was thinking this too, but, well, the difference between that and the other "minor infractions" that Diligence can help you with is, stealing is actually breaking the law. The minor infractions Diligence can help you with don't involve actual lawbreaking, it just involves annoying people enough to have them call the guards on you. Whether you actually broke a law or not makes all the difference in the world to the Harmonium, I think.
6) Harmonium waves should respawn, though the actual mechanics of that action should be discussed. Once in a set amount of time, perhaps?
Nah. You can still get waves called on you, but only by killing someone else, or by trying to talk to any surviving Harmonium or Diligence.
I have no idea what happens internally when you try to steal through the merchant interface. My guess is it just makes the merchant hostile and then the merchant's scripting would handle the repercussions of that (shouting for the guards, etc.)
I actually saw incrementing 'MK_Counter' by 5 or greater somewhere which exceeds the limit for the Harmonium Officer to start his non-existent dialogue. Which is what made me think about whe whole system of minor and major crimes. What happens when you try to steal something in the Lower Wards Market?
There's no increment by 5 that I can see (though Diligence "helping" you sets MK_Counter to -5), and the "start dialogue" script, 0000HSRG.BCS, is attached to two creatures but it is always overwritten by the time the creature actually makes it into the game. Which is a good thing, if it weren't it would break the vast majority of Curst quests as Marquez instantly aggroed on you.
ANYWAYS. That's what I'm thinking needs doing so that this all makes sense. Any comments/objections?
Qwinn
Edited by Qwinn, 22 January 2010 - 05:25 AM.
