Miscellaneous ideas and the Dialogue menu

[phantasmald]

Here's a list of ideas/features, noting down things as I was playing DFU, coming across situations where I was feeling the game and the modding scene was somewhat lacking (some polish).

- a way to see your reputation on the character sheet (potentially only shows relevant factions, aka stuff with reputation != 0)

- when you ask for directions the AI should try to find the closest location, not send you over to the other side of the continent

- A simplification for the 'Tell me about' list on the Dialogue screen, group up the different options into Persons of Interest, Guilds, Temples and Knightly Orders, so it isn't so bloated

- Add a reason for the Where is... -> Things... option in the dialogue menu existing or repurpose it for something else. Like seriously, is there any topics that are ever put there, can anybody enlighten me? As far as I can see it's completely unused.

- Also, if it's possible, a new generic 'Tell me about' dialogue options: little secret - a randomly generated/selected tip
example: "I heard (shop name) in (town name) has ludicrously good prices" - giving you a hint about a Poor ('Rusty relics' type) quality shop so you can find
"My uncle found (high quality item) in (shop name)!" - giving you a hint about a Max ('Incense' type) quality shop
Or "I always stay in (tavern name). Best beer!"
Or "Have you read the book, (book name)?" (Obv these examples are not very refined, just providing examples)
Or some 4th wall breaking hint.
Basically things to increase the RP value of character dialogues and also to allow npcs give you 'subtle' hints about good shops, regional prices and stuff.

To make it no so exploitable only one answer can be generated per NPC? (I belive this is already the case for the default news option)


- Differentiate shop types better (for example, Armorer vs Weapon Smith, there's no difference afaik) and give them some additional utility besides existing for world building/lore.
Speciality shops should offer better prices (I feel like this is already a case but on a very miniscule scale. Haven't tested very meticulously tho and I can't find any info about this on the internet)

- Equipment repairs maybe should be restricted to weapon smith? Armorer may very, very rarely sell enchanted items?
Same for clothier and jeweller. Alchemists could offer to make potions for you for some gold?

- Potions should be sellable

- Weapons and armor should show their base sell value, maybe?

- Shop tier list: a pretty neat and flavourful system but honestly, waaaay to exploitable and makes 80% of the shops pointless. With the existence of the cart you'll never feel the need to sell things at the nearest shop, instead opting to look for Rusty relics/sturdy shelves and you might even already know where such a place is located. (unless you feel to lazy to do so : P)
'Incense' type shops also have some use as they have the highest chance for good quality equipment, but 'average' and 'better' types are kinda just filler content without a true purpose.
[This issue is partially tackled by the 'Limited Gold Shops' mod, but I feel there's place for additional improvements (like shopkeepers have too much gold still imo tbh)]
Maybe if buying equipment was more of a necessity? Perhaps tinker with loot tables so enemies rarely drop stuff above 'battered' quality, (Hmm, type 3 and 4 shops are still kinda pointless but shops in general would have more of a purpose)
[can't really think of any good improvements, maybe the system is already fine as it is and I should just suspend my disbelief]

- Library improvements? Books could unlock dialogue options? [maybe this is already a thing?] Maybe certain books could be used as quest triggers? So if they are in your inventory you may get a quest?

- in-game description/explanation/hover-text for the various skills, like Impish, Streetwise, etc, maybe?

- Give clothes some more purpose and a reason to visit clothiers (->remove clothing from loot drops entirely imo). Perhaps look into restoring the cut 'Disguise' skill?
Wearing appropriate clothing adds X amount to your speech checks? So you can impress/trick nobles with more posh clothes and stuff. [you rarely have to worry about dialogue tho, plenty of fish in the sea to spam the generic options at]
[ this is partially addressed by 'climates and calories']

- Daedra expansion/questlines.

Spoiler!

A way to join sects following any of the Princes and get radiant quests to spread influence of your chosen Lord. Quests are initiated at random intervals by letters (time between letters potentially ranging from 3 weeks to 5 months? Spacing them out both as to not get too repetitive and also to delay the ultimate reward) Or there still could be a dedicated cult leader NPC if that's possible but imo quests should still be spaced out.
Once you have done enough quest (~5?) or achived a certain level of reputation with your Prince you get to summon that specific daedra for free on any day (and perhaps other boons?)

Becoming a daedra worshipper locks you out of temple factions and lowers your regional reputation(?)
Or maybe you can still join Temples as a front operation, keeping your true allegiances secret.

Way to become a cultist:
- learn about the daedra (through books (On Oblivion, by fighting daedric creatures or by some other means?) This unlocks a general conversation topic (Tell me about -> Princes -> LIST ?)
- Most of the time NPCs answer in a confused manner, sometimes in a frightened manner, rarely angrily and extremely rarely positively (positive responses: expressing interest, outright prasing a random Lord or rarely directing you to a quest NPC that could induct you into a cult.
- After asking X (~250?) number of people about Daedra you may get a letter, inviting you to a meeting with the same quest NPC (the letter saying that they noticed your interest but should probably be more careful about who you talk to about this as not everyone would approve of your curiousity)
- Certain obviously daedra affiliated characters may direct you to a cult leader, allowing to skip the conversation grinding (for example: Coven Witches, daedra summoner NPCs, etc?) But they have their own drawbacks (like withces need to be found, daedra summoners won't tell unless you have high reputation with their faction, etc)
- Once you meet the cult recruiter you do an initiation quest after which you can get random quests

Failing a quest results in a drop of reputation with the cult (like in vanilla factions, obv) and low reputation will result in expulsion
After which you'll periodically get assaulted by daedric foes - potential solutions: clear a dungeon/building with 1-3 Summoner NPC(s?) to stop the attacks or mend the relationship by pushing your faction reputation into positive(?)

[overall kinda similar to witch coven/DB stuff tbh]

Submitting this list raw, mostly unformatted, so at least these ideas are out there. Maybe it will inspire someone.
But I'm also hoping for some feedback/insight from seasoned modders, as I may try my hands at creating mods myself, and would be cool to know what is possible and what isn't.