steel gull
General new idea: Increased vendor ai's (based on what i've currently experienced in SoR 1)
Basically: There's only two types of vendors- the ones that stand behind the counter 24/7, and the ones that are filling shelves 24/7
defiantly boring/troublesome in certain situations, but it is what it is.
I would suggest a more dynamic ai next game, with examples of such listed below.
Lazy shopkeeper: Stays behind the counter all the time (possibly with a smoke break being the only exception, up to how you want to balance it)
Attributes: Has an employee on the shop floor doing the shelf work for them, poorer quality items (due to being much easier to steal from)
Perception is poor also. You could pickpocket his employee in front of him (about 5 tiles away) and he wouldn't notice. Will still chase you out of the store in extreme circumstances (Especially attacking him or the employee, or being caught stealing regardless).
He would also, by design, make it harder to get into the backroom of the store from the front, due to him being perched right behind the counter, where the door typically is.
Active shopkeeper:
The opposite of the Lazy shopkeeper. Will be on the shop floor almost constantly, stocking shelves. Will be quite perceptive of any trouble you're causing, and quick to action against you also.
However, they aren't very active behind the counter, leading to easier backroom access, and possibly stealing from the cash till (if that's ever a feature. Not part of the idea, however)
Addendum: A bell on counter, to call them behind the counter- so you can still purchase things without having to frustratingly wait lol- unless you buy it directly from the npc still
General shopkeeper: basically what they are in SoR 1, a mix of behind counter and out front, and being generally attentive to misdeeds. Nothing special
You could include specialized scenarios for different vendor types too. For example, Drug dealers would usually be more protection, and is, by default, suspicious of the new person waltzing into their shop (unless you have a trait/modifier to disable this)
However, there could be sleezy back-ally kind of drug dealers too, much more defenseless, but ofc lesser quality stuff.
past sedge