Social Stealth, Evasion and Guard AI
So this is the second topic I've made on possible AC improvements. This time, I'm going to focus on how we can be revealed as an assassin, how we can hide from those who try to violently stop us, how we can lower the chances of them remembering who we are later, and how the crowd will react to our actions.
So, I'm going to assume that AC3 has a sizable portion of the game that features Desmond as a full-fledged assassin. In this case, we will probably be in modern cities around the world in the year 2012. Lets begin with what the crowd will think of Desmond's antics.
Parkour-
Parkour is relatively common in the present day, but people would be sure to find it strange and suspicious if Desmond attempts to get on the roof of a bank or fancy establishment. Certain areas should cause the crowd to report you to guards if you are on them. The rest of them should either cause them to praise your skills, or make snide remarks about you breaking something.
Groups-
If Desmond slips into a group, he should say something after a few seconds, and a member of the group should reply, so that it's more believeable that they aren't creeped out by him. Just a generic greeting, probably several variations of 'sup.
Groups should run away or fight if desmond attacks one of them or someone near them. (fight or flight based on....)
Crowd Archetypes
Jock-
Will fight if provoked (seeing other civvilian get punched, getting punched) as long as you are fighting only with your fists, blocks attacks, does higher damage than normal civvie.
Thug-
Will fight if in a secluded area or alley, or no normal civvies are nearby. Has knife, damage one step above normal guard. Will fight unless you are seen using your hidden gun by them.
Informer- will actively search out guards if you kill anyone. Will stay untill you have finished killing all hostiles, then run, if tackled, will continue to run away and not tell guards. Informers intimidated in this manner will act as normal civvies.
Normal Civvie-
Will run if they see any violence, if they run guards nearby will search the area for anything suspicious.
Pickpocket-
Exactly what it says on the tin. Not allies, just pickpockets. Crowd should boo them if you catch them.
Guards
Normal guard-
Armed with baton. low damage, can only block fist attacks. Will ignore you unless you kill someone in their line of sight (they should be able to see far, and be able to see you if you are on a rooftop and in visible view.) or their leader alerts them. Parkour skills limited to small jumps and climbing small walls.
Normal Guard Leader-
Armed with baton, slightly better than normal guard damage. Can block all melee attacks. Will notice you if you are climbing up a building that it is socially unnaceptable to climb (such buildings will be designated with yellow on the minimap) if you start a fight, or if you bump into them. If you try to escape, he and any guards with him will begin a chase. If you stay, he will reference that you cannot do what you just did and tell you to leave. If you do not leave, he will remind you to go. if you still do not leave, he will attack you with his baton. Any guards around him will just cheer him on and not interfere untill you attack him. Normal Guard Leaders have a walkie talkie and will use it to call police if you do not kill them quickly. The walkie talkie call can be inturrupted by an attack, and takes about 3 seconds. Parkour skills are slightly better, able to jump as far as you, but still cannot climb very well. will be alerted if you kill someone near them, if they find a dead body and you are near them, they will be alerted after a few seconds. They wear stab-proof vests, which protect against the hidden blade from the front while in open conflict.
Police-
Patrol streets, appear when called by a Guard leader.
Come in teams of two, have nightsticks and guns. Since guns are extremely dangerous, it is prefferable to leave once they have been called or spot you. Wears stab vests, giving them some protection against the hidden blade except from behind while in open conflict. Patrolling police will spot you if you kill someone in front of them, and will leave their vehicle to investigate bodies.
Abstergo Personnel
Abstergo scientists-
If they are in an Abstergo building, they will trigger a security warning if they see you. (security warning mean a group of elite guards comes, and guards in the building will be alerted to you on sight.
Abstergo Guards and Guard Leaders-
Identical behavior to normal guards and guard leaders, except both guards AND leaders notice if you do something you shouldn't or are where you shouldn't be. Leaders notice faster. If they notice you, they will automatically go to open conflict. Instead of police, Abstergo guard leaders call elite guards. Abstergo guard leaders wear stab-proof vests.
Elite Guards-
They carry machine guns and wear body armor. They can only be killed by three shots from the hidden gun. Machine guns do inoordinate amounts of damage. (hidden gun can fire pretty fast, but must be manually aimed, so it's a big deal when you get cornered by a bunch of them) Appear when called for, and guard important places. Will notice you very quickly, and go right into open conflict. Have no parkour abilities.
Abstergo Assassin-
A graduate of the program that AC:B's multiplayer was based off of. Has an Abstergo hidden blade and a hidden gun, as well as light but durable armor, made through Abstergo's use of the apple. this will give them a lot of health. Will attack with hidden blade, and shoot with gun if you start to get ahead of them in a chase. If you are at very low health, they will perform an execution animation on desmond the next time he is hit. The templar Hidden blade does a lot of damage. This would be a sort of mini boss character. Something that would be cool would be a mission involving an assassination attempt on Desmond by one of them (this would be the mission that introduced them.)
Can be male or female. Always informed of your identity. can tackle you.
Have parkour abilities identical to yours except for a slower climbing speed.
Elite Abstergo Assassin-
An exceptional graduate of the blah blah blah. Has an abstergo Hidden blade and a more powerful hidden gun. Has more powerful armor. Does more damage with blade, will shoot at you at any time that you are not at close range. After they tackle you, they can assassinate you if you do not press X.
Notoriety is increased a small amount from starting fist fights. It is increased a huge amount by killing while guards or civilians see you. It can be decreased a small amount by killing guards that were witnesses and bribing civvilians that were. If you gain notoriety by killing a group of guards in a fight and there were no witnesses, you lose notoriety gained from that fight when you kill the last one.
Whew! Please leave any ideas you have for changes or leave any new features you have come up with.
I like all of these and hope Ubisoft can see these ideas. I'd actually find this challenging like AC1 was! 
So this is the second topic I've made on possible AC improvements. This time, I'm going to focus on how we can be revealed as an assassin, how we can hide from those who try to violently stop us, how we can lower the chances of them remembering who we are later, and how the crowd will react to our actions.
All interesting ideas. I like the concept of crowd archetypes who act differently depending on what they witness. Though crowds still need to be primarily comprised of mixed individuals and only the odd group of all of one type.
I'm still of the belief that subsequent AC games will still primarily be based around ancestral/historical gameplay, as that was mentioned in at least two interviews since AC2 was released. I'm betting the Desmond parts will continue to expand somewhat, but will never be a full-fledged city. But that's just my prediction on the matter. As such, I won't comment on the individual archetypes and ideas you have so as not to downplay any of your ideas.
As for my ideas, I would love to see crowds (especially crowds from older time periods) boo you and throw stones at you when you're found out. Kill someone in a high profile way and some will run away screaming while others will shout and throw rocks. It should be exactly the same as the stone-throwing already done by guards when you're climbing, but the pissed off civilians will do it when you're on the ground too. Each hit landed should hinder attempts at parkour and climbing.
I would like to see the persecuting civilians actually attempt to follow you (on ground level only) and keep throwing stones, as if they're trying to force you out of their city. Many would throw rocks, some would wield broomsticks and hoes and pitchforks and take swings at you, etc. They'll follow you as much as they can (but will stick to street level), so you'd have to break line of sight and probably even find a hiding spot for a moment until they give up. They could use the existing escape/hide mechanics from guards, just keep the pursuing civilian archetypes from climbing/jumping and make them give up sooner than guards do. I imagine this would be a rush, adding a slightly new dynamic and making it more rewarding to be stealthy. And it would even add to the fun when just messing around and trying to cause chaos. 
These attacking mobs (mobs = groups of civilians) would also need to be morale based, just like the guards. If you don't fight back, they'll keep after you for a bit (but not too far) just to make sure you're not thinking of coming back. If you kill a guard near the mob or punch/throw a civilian, it should demoralize them. Just like guards, they should flee when things get too scary for them.
Yes, I feel that knocking a civvy on his ass should be an effective tactic in the right situation. Killing them is bad (and the penalty should remain as it is), but if they're mobbing you and you need to clear them out, start throwing some punches to get the rest to run away. Or grab one and toss him into the pack to knock a bunch of them down so that you can run away unhindered. It's the heroic thing to do – let your reputation suffer if it means saving innocent lives. Or throw a smoke bomb and slip away so that you don't have to hurt any of them.
I'd love to see ways to put the blame on guards and have the civilians mob them too. Maybe toss a corpse from above so that it lands at a guard's feet, then watch the crowd turn and think that the guard killed somebody. Then watch the crowd stone him while he pleads that it wasn't him. If they want to take it a bit further, the framed guard(s) could be assholes and turn and attack the mob (causing more chaos) or they could run away. This part could be randomly chosen, or be based on mob size or whatever.
Notoriety is increased a small amount from starting fist fights. It is increased a huge amount by killing while guards or civilians see you. It can be decreased a small amount by killing guards that were witnesses and bribing civvilians that were. If you gain notoriety by killing a group of guards in a fight and there were no witnesses, you lose notoriety gained from that fight when you kill the last one.
I would still prefer notoriety to be entirely dictated by the story (as in AC1), but if it's going to be something dynamic, I really like the idea that finishing off the last guard rids you of any notoriety created by those guards.
Perhaps they could combine both aspects. The guards could work off the story, much like AC1. As things progress, they're told about you, what to look out for ("the man in the white hood"), etc. Civilians could work off a dynamic system (since many will run away to tell the tale) and you can bribe and do similar things to reduce that notoriety.
I imagine a good/evil thing could even be worked in as long as it wasn't too complicated. If you're only seen killing guards who are already doing bad things (attacking civilians, etc) and you help out civilians in distress and similar types of actions, you could eventually be seen more as a hero and cheered on by many (but definitely not all) civilians. But kill innocent-looking guards (ones who were otherwise minding their own business) and punch/kick/grab civilians and you'll get a bad reputation and crowds will start to hate you. Infamous for PS3 already does this. It doesn't need to be complicated, just a really basic good/evil system would work.
This all of course should be based around stealth. Until a crowd can actually notice you from any other average Joe, they should ignore you no matter your reputation/current notoriety. But as soon as you start with the high profile actions (open parkour, open fighting) the current notoriety should kick in and the crowd will react to you accordingly now that you're recognized. I would love the challenge of having civvies grabbing you the way that the rescued citizen helpers do in AC1 (and ACB), helping the guards instead of helping you. You'd have to break off their grabs like in AC1 and ACB and do it in a timely manner to avoid taking hits from the attacking guards. Man, that'd be fun. 
And for the love of sanity, they'd better not make notoriety an all-or-nothing thing like in AC2 and ACB. Make it gradual, with at least four distinct levels of severity of crowd reaction. At zero, the crowds will just stop and watch you and make comments. At level 1, maybe they'll start shouting and the odd one will throw a stone at you. Maybe one will grab a pitchfork and take a swing. At level 2, they'll try to surround you and several will throw stones and there will be a higher likelihood of melee attacks from the crowd. At the top level, they'll surround you, hold you down, several might attack you and many will throw stones. They'll follow you a fair distance. Breaking line of sight and finding a hiding spot is a pretty good idea at this point.
It's probably also a good idea to make it tougher to stay incognito the higher your crowd notoriety is. At level 1, the crowds might not immediately identify you even with some parkour stunts, but at level 4, even bumping into the wrong civvy could get you recognized and a mob would begin to form.
Man, this would be thrilling! It uses mostly already-existing game mechanics and would make it much more important to remain stealthy, and very exciting when you slip up or are discovered. No more simply watching the crowd scatter and not having to worry about it. No more being totally invincible. I want to see the citizens find courage in numbers and stand up for themselves and their city! You shouldn't even be the king of the city. You should always need to mind your actions if you want unhindered access around town.
I love already all of these ideas. It makes the game more challenging for all types of gamers, but without making the difficulty curve too steep, and actually encourages the player to be STEALTHY, as the game was always supposed to be.
I imagine a good/evil thing could even be worked in as long as it wasn't too complicated. If you're only seen killing guards who are already doing bad things (attacking civilians, etc) and you help out civilians in distress and similar types of actions, you could eventually be seen more as a hero and cheered on by many (but definitely not all) civilians. But kill innocent-looking guards (ones who were otherwise minding their own business) and punch/kick/grab civilians and you'll get a bad reputation and crowds will start to hate you. Infamous for PS3 already does this. It doesn't need to be complicated, just a really basic good/evil system would work.
How about system that takes a bit from Red Dead Redemption? The honor and fame system seemed to work pretty good, and I loved how you could either help lawmen to capture thieves or either help the thieve and kill the guard.
ROB_88 wrote:
[On the meaning of BAMF]i figured it was something similar to a MILFBabes Await My..............Flap-a-doodle
How about system that takes a bit from Red Dead Redemption? The honor and fame system seemed to work pretty good, and I loved how you could either help lawmen to capture thieves or either help the thieve and kill the guard.
I certainly wouldn't be opposed to that, however it felt a little unrealistic in RDR the same way the notoriety system in AC2 and ACB do – often no one witnesses your actions and yet they are known by all anyway. As long as they could keep things so that people need to witness your deeds and live to tell about it, then it should be quite acceptable.
Overall, the whole good/bad/honorable/dishonorable thing would require a lot of work and isn't terribly necessary for future AC games. It would be more of an icing-on-the-cake sort of thing. So I figure the simpler we keep it, the less likely the idea is to be simply swept under the rug.
Gonna start a new topic today, I'll come back here later when I think of something else.