Kingdom of Austland Assertors

Major Assertor Update

This update greatly expands the Assertor system with new variants, ranks, healing support, ranged combat improvements, hired combat modes, and improved idle/shop behavior.

Added Assertor Variants

Added new Assertor variants:
- Added Assertor Medic.
- Added Assertor Marksman.
- Variants can appear naturally and through rally spawning.
- Variants keep the normal Assertor systems, including hiring, banners, promotions, factions, patrol behavior, and commands.

Added New Variant Ranks

Marksman ranks:
- Marksman follower: Marksman Ranger.
- Marksman captain: Assertor Major.
- Marksman marshal: Assertor Colonel.

Medic ranks:
- Medic follower: Medical Ranger.
- Medic captain: Medical Captain.
- Medic marshal: Health Director.

Added Medic Behavior

- Medics can heal injured same-team Assertors.
- Medics can now also heal injured villagers and players.
- Medics move closer before healing.
- Medic healing uses limited daily supplies.
- Medic healing can alternate between instant healing and regeneration.

Added Health Director Behavior

- Health Directors can issue healing orders to captains.
- Health Directors can support villagers, players, and allied Assertors.
- Health Director healing orders are limited per day.

Added Marksman Behavior

- Marksmen are better at ranged combat.
- Marksmen are more likely to use ranged attacks against flying or hard-to-reach enemies.
- Marksman marshal rank, Assertor Colonel, can push stronger ranged combat behavior through its command role.

Added Hired Assertor Combat Modes

- Added Auto Mode.
- Added Melee Mode.
- Added Range Mode.
- Hired Assertors can now be ordered to prefer melee or ranged combat.
- Range Mode still uses visibility and range checks instead of firing uselessly into walls or at targets arrows cannot reach.

Added Shop Chest Behavior

Assertors can now interact with player-made shop chests.

- Assertors can read nearby sale signs and interact with shop chests.
- Valid signs can use words like sale, for sale, sell, selling, shop, market, or vendor.
- Sign keywords are not case-sensitive.
- Assertors may browse shop chests or buy items by placing emeralds into the same chest.
- Shop chest behavior supports modded items.
- Stackable item purchases use a random amount from 1 to 32 items per emerald.
- Unstackable items sell for 1 emerald each.
- Multiple shop chests can exist nearby, and Assertors randomly choose between valid shops.

Added Custom Shop Prices

Players can now set custom emerald prices for shop chest items using nearby sale signs.

Example:

sale
20 emeralds
per piece

Assertors now judge the price before buying instead of blindly purchasing items.

- Cheap items are more likely to be bought.
- Normal-priced items have a fair chance to be bought.
- Expensive items have a lower chance to be bought.
- Very expensive items are usually only browsed and rarely bought.
- Expensive items are not impossible to sell, but Assertors may hesitate.
- Single leftover stackable items also make Assertors more hesitant, especially if the price is high.
- Cheap single items can still be bought.

When shopping, Assertors now:
1. Choose the shop idle behavior.
2. Walk to a valid shop chest.
3. Read the nearby sale sign.
4. Check the emerald price.
5. Roll a weighted buy chance based on the price.
6. Browse if the roll fails.
7. Buy the item and place emeralds into the chest if the roll succeeds.

Improved Idle Behavior

- Shopping and gossip now share a 50/50 idle choice.
- Added cooldowns so Assertors do not endlessly repeat the same idle behavior.
- Added fail-safes so Assertors return to normal strolling if no shop chest or social target is found.

Improved Ranged Combat

- Ranged attacks now avoid firing at grounded targets from distances where arrows are unlikely to reach.
- Flying and elevated targets are still valid ranged targets.
- Hired Range Mode uses the same safer ranged logic.