r/paradoxplaza • u/Paracordelia • 7h ago
Afterworld Afterworld Dev Diary #6 - Tribes
Dev Diary written by NullNiche. Forum post link: HERE
Hello and good fortunes to you, dustlander! Today I want to tell you a bit more about another important game concept - perhaps the most important - as it is that which you embody when playing Afterworld.
So lower the volume on your geiger counters and perk up your ears (questionable metaphor for a written dev diary, I know) as I share our thinking behind Tribes, what they are and the different kinds you will encounter in Afterworld.
What are tribes?
Last time around I talked about what bands are so I’d like to explain the difference between bands and tribes. Conceptually, bands and tribes are both groups of people. Bands are culturally homogenous, while tribes can be made up of multiple bands with different perspectives on the world and how their tribe should be run. You are empowered to define the shape of a tribe the way you want.
Narratively a tribe is what you get when multiple bands coordinate together under a tribal council leading them. Systemically, you are the tribe employing the bands, making sure they work in the interest of your tribe. Afterworld takes inspiration from survival colony games, where you play a colony and have to manage your survivors with their particular personalities and quirks - in this comparison, the tribe is like the colony and the bands are like the colonists to manage.
Ok, so let's see what defines a tribe and how one might be different from another:
- Government: A tribe’s government impacts what social values are important and what kind of council calls the shots. Diplomatic relations are impacted by government type compatibility.
- Council: Here you choose which bands help to run your tribe as the tribal elites. Picking elites with the right values will make it easier for you to lead the tribe in the direction you want.
- Laws: What is allowed or forbidden in your tribe. Can be reformed through the work and will of your tribe council. Some law differences can lead to diplomatic tension between tribes (for example an anti-slavery tribe will be eager to fight a tribe practicing slavery).
- Ideas: The social and technological ideas that the tribe has unlocked and has access to pursue. Different origins, destinies or regions may unlock different options here.
- True Belief: The belief (religion/ideology) which you have picked to be the tribe’s true belief will have consequences for internal bands who follow the same or another belief, as well as diplomatic consequences outward for other tribes who have similar or opposing true beliefs (when The Beloved talks your ear off about praising Her fire, just nod if you don’t want to feel it).
- Spirits: These are special unlocks from Ideas and Destinies which allow you to further specialize your tribe into specific strengths. For example a tribe may adopt the marauders tribe spirit, which will make it better at pursuing a raider playstyle, alternatively Chainbreakers is a spirit that an anti-slavery tribe can take up and fight to liberate bands from their enthrallment.
- Social Classifications: Here you decide which bands are your elites (aka council bands) and which are placed in citizen, underclass or thrall positions. Depending on your society, its classifications may work differently. For example in one tribe consumption of alcohol or narcotic substances may be banned for lower classes, while in another it may be permitted for all, depending on the laws in effect.
The above are available to all tribes. However, in Afterworld we also split tribes between Player Tribes, Minor Tribes and Ancient Tribes, which I will explain to you now.
Player Tribes
The tribes which you can play as, or which the AI plays as if it was a player, are what we refer to as Player Equivalent Tribes. PETs play the game to build their societies, migrate, capture land, pursue quests and destinies and carve out their own piece of history in Afterworld’s timeline. You can think of these tribes similar to Stellaris galactic empires. These are going to be the tribes that start on the same footing with you and will be your main competitors whether they be your allies or enemies.
Early game tribal gameplay is meant to be focused more on survival and managing a small number of weaker bands. Mid game is when you start making clearer friends and enemies. Likely you have settled down somewhere that provides you with some useful advantage such as a valuable resource and you are considering establishing diplomatic pacts. All the while, you are considering which Ancient to side with (if any). Late game you have either already worked your way up the power structure of an Ancient’s dominion to help or hinder them from within, or you are setting yourself up to make a stand against them on your own terms, alone or with your allies. Through the entire game, your tribe is powering up through social, technological, and diplomatic development.
Minor Tribes
Besides the player tribes, Afterworld features Minor Tribes. These are specific handcrafted tribes, usually based on in-game lore and history. These tribes prioritize acting in accordance with their lore and offering flavorful interactions while having agendas of their own. But, these are much more based on who they are and what their place is in their region. You can think of these a bit like Stellaris enclaves, but you know… with a bit more Afterworldly cannibalism and rather less Stellarisy xeno-devourers.
These tribes can vary quite a bit, but generally they do not seek to make great territorial gains and mostly care about something specific to their neck of the woods. They are expected to be an early game challenge for you to contend with, but as you grow you will likely have the power to decide their fate.
Will you leave them be and collaborate with them to build on each other’s strengths (some minor tribes have strong spirits, governments and laws) or will you conquer them, dissolve their way of governance and bring their bands into your tribe?
Some examples of Minor Tribes:
- Mercenary Fort - A small tribe operating as a private military for hire. They are tough to crack out of their well defended locations but can serve you well if you can afford them.
- Oil Town - Prosperous, but guarded town that is built on a source of oil. It deals in this valuable resource and can share its engineering skills if you know how to play your cards right.
- Sungazer Monastery - Gentle scholar monks, keeping secrets too dangerous to be committed to paper! Defended by unique unit zealots and interested to deal in information with you.
Ancient Tribes
Still very much focused on flavor and world lore, but on the opposite side of the power spectrum, we find Ancient Tribes. These are the tribes that are ruled over by Afterworld’s Ancients: powerful characters that you want to be wary of. These are like a blend of Stellaris fallen empires and the Crusader Kings Popes, in that they are big, lumbering players with a lot of weight to throw around on the world stage.
Similarly to how minor tribes have local agendas, ancient tribes too have their own flavorful plots, but these play out on a larger scale. Much more on all this in a future dev diary dedicated to Ancients.
Alright fellow dustlanders… I’ll wrap it up for now about tribes, what they are made of and their broad typologies. Tribes are meant to be societies you encounter in the Afterworld, some have small ambitions and serve as footnotes to your own tribe’s early history, while others may loom over your entire playthrough for you to eventually face off when destiny deems. Your own tribe is meant to be something you shape how you like alongside all of the other societies you will have to contend with.
Our next dev diary will be in two weeks again. But, before we finally sign off, the Turns Expedition continues its report below…
Stay dusty!
Turns Expedition - Interview Excerpt.
Subject: Ruin-runner, the Tacoma Dig.
The Tacoma Dig is by far the largest settlement within the eye of the Great Storm. Manmade channels divert stormwater into a defensive moat. The settlement lies at the foot of the Dig, an excavation operation cutting into the hill of earth blanketing the ruins of Old Tacoma.
Tacoma Mound was all pasture in my mama’s time. One day a herder’s girl fell through a sinkhole and found herself on the upper floors of the Tacoma Marriott Hotel. They started digging that very day, and the Dig’s never stopped. Now it’s the biggest settlement within the eye of the Great Storm, and growing every day.
Don’t bother with torches in the Dig. It’s worth the battery in your flashlight. They don’t pump air in where we’re going, so keep your mask on. Speaking of batteries, keep an eye out, you get a good price for the non-perishable ones. Did you forget your goddamn tunnel passes? Hah, kidding, I got our tunnel passes right here. [He indicates his gun.]
I worked the Dig nine years before I started ruin-running. They’re out there cutting a mountain in half, and not an ounce of Ancient science to aid them. Just ropes and shovels, stormwater and mathematics. Poor bastards. The finest relic trade in all the Dustlands, and it’s all to fill the Triumvirate’s bellies. Better off smuggling. Better off dead.
You forget the Ancients were humans. They were… devils, miracle-workers, I don’t know what. Then you see something like this. Watch your step. Know where we are now? It’s a school. There’s another classroom like this down the tunnel, then another, then another and another. Thousands of children studied here. I’ve seen five more schools like it, and the more they dig the more they'll find.
Can you imagine that many people existing? Eating whatever they liked, flying around in airplanes, going home to their towers to live stacked on top of each other. Loving each other. Growing old. Did they do things like that? I only know them in their billions, and all I want from them is their trinkets. A single good classroom’s got more electrical components than you can carry.
Someday the Triumvirate will catch me smuggling and string me up. I hope more’s left of me than trinkets.
