Affordable Custom Armor for PC factions etc

[Mort]

I have some ideas to improve that system. I've been exploring a lot the scripts to change armor, dye colors, etc. It's a great mess and bioware command script are really shitty, but, once it's done, I think I'll be able to make most people happy.

[Egon the Monkey]

That would be awesome. Since the colours aren't in any sensible order on the pallette, it can be tiresome to click through, even just for starting gear.

Why all the nay-saying here?
It's a feature the DMs put in to be used, and it's not seeing its full potential.

Exactly. The leathers and cloth tailors are occasionally used, but never the armor one, except for Full Plate. Why have a scripted system to deal with custom armor, when for the occasional cripplingly expensive deal (like Guildhouse upgrades or faction HQs buyouts), a DM possession would work fine.

I am not saying custom armor should be cheap, I am suggesting it should be double the price or more of how much most players would pay for equivalent gear, so it's only a good decision for PCs that really need a Look. I'd say you should have to pay extra for custom gear, but not so much that it prices it out as an option. If you're running a faction, armor is very cool, but it's your lowest priority behind a HQ and supplies.

Halfplate is cheap as chips and there's loads going round, but the custom halfplate is five times the price of PC merchant ones and double that of a shoploot one with bonuses.  The markup on Halfplate is in fact only 500 or so less than the markup for Fullplate. You may as well save the money and wait to buy Fullplate since you'l never get the money back reselling your custom set. Thus nobody ever orders custom Halfplate.

I've only ever seen custom FP (due to rarity of normal FP)  and chainshirts (Because they're close to affordable for a rich PC). They are, not incidentally the two armors you can get the highest AC out of. Since a chainshirt build can get better AC than a halfplate one, I don't see cheaper custom halfplate as imbalanced. The idea is to allow PCs to buy overpriced, underpowered gear to order, at a cost that doesn't make the player think "screw RP, I'll wear the Gnolls plate like everyone else". For example a guy who really does scavenge armor parts and wants his plate/chains to reflect that.

You're living in a ruined town, that struggles to survive, that can't  feed people, can't pay it's troops, and you think people are worried  about adventurers dying (oups) their full plate armor?

Yes, even more so than before. Because since Grey can't get military contracts with the Colony being broke, it makes great business sense for him to start offering services to the only people who've actually got cash, at a price they can afford. Let's be honest, only innkeepers, Gwah'oul, the Arrowhead and Blazon could actually stay in business considering how little other merchants sell.

Gold rains from the sky, 4000 is cheap and you can add +1 will to it for  1500gp.

Maybe if you powerquest all the high-paying quests and sell everything. Claim what you like, but the evidence is that most heavy armor PCs outside of factions do not have Fullplate, and I can't believe they're all wearing stuff so powerful they don't care to upgrade. I don't consider fullplate to be badly priced TBH. It costs about double what a PC sells it for if you want to have yours made, which is a better deal than for any other custom armor. Plus, it's the only reliable source of Fullplate, so you're paying for the rarity value.

Instead of buying customized armor, and then dying it, why not just use dyes on what you have?

You'd be amazed how much stuff isn't dyable, ask me, LiS, or any of the other EfU Fashion Victims. I tend to use the 3gp cloth dye to test just in case.

[GoblinSapper]

Gold rains from the sky? What?
 
Then why can't I make any?

[gab1]

You'd be amazed how much stuff isn't dyable, ask me, LiS, or any of the other EfU Fashion Victims. I tend to use the 3gp cloth dye to test just in case.

I've found that many armors are made of a composition of clothes leather and metal, as far as dying goes. Haven't had trouble tbh, what in particular have you found undyable?

Thanks man.

[Egon the Monkey]

What I mean, is a lot of stuff is marked Plot, which prevents it from being dyed. This is usually done to prevent us selling loot to shops, but generally marking it Stolen works better as that doesn't prevent you dyeing things.

Edit: Like for instance the Nightriser helm my guy wears. Don't want to drag the thread offtopic :P

[gab1]

Ahh, i see, for instance like what?, out of pure curiosity.

[EfUA_undercover]

PC merchant prices are broken, that's why you all think its too expensive what the NPCs ask. Actually all PC merchants should ask more, but then everyone would just quest until they get what they want (which is often enough the case anyway)!

I agree with more and easier (not cheaper) options for customized armor though!

[PlayaCharacter]

It should be pointed out that the UD factions that had their own look (I'm thinking of the Sentinels) achieved it by hoarding certain drops from quests and then dyeing them all to match. There is enough of a variety of quest loot armor on the surface to make this a feasible option for a PC faction.

[Egon the Monkey]

I have to ask with all the opposition to this, what the server would lose from PCs having access to expensive but not stupidly so, basic armour with no bonuses. A feature that isn't used may as well not exist. Your suggestion's valid, PlayaCharacter and I've done it myself with player factions (The Cult of Jergal and the Cult of Ghaunadaur both spammed appropriate quests). However it requires OOCly picking quests to spam, and powerquesting. On the other hand, commissioning custom armour is a totally IC decision. Numerous PC factions have done similar using tailored suits or leathers, but it's not been feasible for armours.

[Decimate_The_Weak]

Back in my early days of EfU:A when I led the Blood Legion faction, eventually we earned uniforms.

It -can- happen, just as Talir said, prove your worth the effort and rock EfU.

As for doing it through the NPC merchant... meh. If you really want your business to boom, go the cheap way... don't spend 4000 GP per guard. >_>

[Egon the Monkey]

A big feature of EfU is all the effort DMs have put in over the years to let you accomplish stuff without their oversight. Custom clothes/leathers armor is one such feature, but it's shamefully underused. Yes, if a DM likes your faction and wants to help, you can get whatever they like. That's irrelevant to the fact an automated system is never used though, which is sad as automated sytems are a great way to show to a DM you are making an effort to coordinate a faction. Also DTW, you were running a faction linked to a church with presence on Ymph and an NPC who granted you some support.

If you really want your business to boom, go the cheap way... don't spend 4000 GP per guard.

Suppose I'll restate this: I am NOT talking about fullplate, fullplate prices are reasonable if extremely expensive. Please, read the suggestion before telling me why it's a bad idea.
What I am suggesting is that you be able to spend 5-600 per guard to equip them with custom HALFplate, or a custom chainshirt or chainmail.

[Nightshadow]

A much more time consuming way is to go out and collect suits of half plate from quests. Give everyone an identical suit, dye them to your factions colors, and there you have it - uniforms.

5-600 per suit of half plate is reasonable, in my opinion. Dwarven half-plate with bonuses costs near 1000 from Tobar, 600 for no bonuses but a custom look seems fair.

[Decimate_The_Weak]

Something else that could be neat is being able to buy in "bulk".

(Unsure of the scripting, but) Say you bought three armors, you could get a discount similar to the ones Egon was talking about.

Maybe it could be a 500 GP service fee (or another fancy name), and a suitable price per suit depending on the level of armor provided.

[Drakill Tannan]

Why not just allow the armor-crafter to modify the apreance of the armor you already have for a steep price?

You pay 1K gold, remove the plot flag, add a "stolen" flag, modify and dye it to your taste? 1K per uniform is expensive, but not too much.

Full-plate uniforms would still cost 4.5K, but if you find a fullplate elsewhere, or if you buy it from a PC it's only +1K more worth.

[MrGrendel]

I have some ideas to improve that system. I've been exploring a lot the scripts to change armor, dye colors, etc. It's a great mess and bioware command script are really shitty, but, once it's done, I think I'll be able to make most people happy.

Let's just chill and see what this brings about. No point in discussing something that's going to soon be changed, unless you have ideas to use regarding this... in which case, open up some suggestion threads already. :)