End of the week and Something's Brewing already!
Today we will be answering some quite interesting questions about the Monks and Nuns of Ale Abbey and their development over time. Although a tad too early in the development process to answer these questions with 100% "final version" accuracy, we hope that you too will be happy with how we're thinking of going around the matter ;)
What's better than knowing that your gowned helpers will individually evolve over time and become better at certain activities? And of course, since they will be retiring to kick their feet up and put their minds at rest, you will need a way of transmitting all that knowledge to their greener replacements...
Read on to find out how!
-- Will there be an obvious way to measure a Monk's/Nun's development over time?
Whenever you click on a Mon or Nun or scroll through the details of your Monastery's team, you will be able to access a full information panel for each of them. Experience Points will always give you a first indication, but these will also break down into 10 more easily distinguishable Ranks (Lvls 1 to 10). While progressing from one Rank to the next, each Monk/Nun will develop additional traits (also recorded in their information panel). At certain Lvl thresholds (for the time being Lvls 3, 5, and 7) the player will be able to also pick a professional specialization. In each character sheet, you will also be able to see a list of their achievement, successes, recipes produced, etc.
-- There is a plan to give Abbot's and Abbesses terms. Will something similar happen with the other Monks/Nuns?
Abbots will have a fixed duration term (50 years) after which the player will be asked to pick a replacement. There will also be some differences in how this will be handled between the Campaign and the Sandbox modes, where during the Campaign the Abbots will leave some sort of "inheritance" to the Monastery upon leaving it, while in Sandbox mode they will be more focused on the bonus they provided while managing it.
Monks and Nuns will spend 40 to 60 years in the Monastery before a retiring event occurs. Although similar at first glance, there is no replacement for Monks and Nuns. Someone will definitely be called to fill that empty spot, but it will be handled differently.
-- After investing in a Monk's/Nun's abilities, how do I make sure I keep that knowledge within the Monastery when it's their time to retire?
When their time has almost come to retire, if they have reached a certain level of experience and skill, they will be able to pick an apprentice among the other younger Monks and train them for a few years. This will provide certain learning bonuses to the apprentice and when the mentor finally retires, he/she will also pass over some final bonus to their apprentice, based on their specialization during their mentorship.
-- What's the best way to keep track of the material I need and what brews I've accomplished so far to learn from the past and streamline my brewing?
There are quite a few, but Emiliano - who actually does get excessively busy with brewing - believes Beersmith is by far the best tool for something like that. It allows him to both create and calculate recipes, record storage of ingredients, and keep track of brews' results so that he can, later on, reproduce them or improve on them, etc.
Thanks for your time and see you all next Friday!
-- Hammer & Ravens
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