Family life, or, "the old ball and chain."
Taken directly from the book "Your First Steps" by Athlon M. Topia II


     Life goes on in the Patrolled Sectors (PS). People are born, grow old, die, and do everything else inbetween.

     Did you know that Humans, Saurians, and Mon'za are genetically adaptive? Meaning they can interbreed,,,,, the mind boggles at the possibilities. I would've thought, that since Terrans are actually transplanted Humans that they would be adaptive as well, but I guess in the couple of thousand years since Terrans were transplanted from Earth they lost that trait, or never developed it in the first place.

     In game play, a player can opt to get married and pop out kids. The idea behind this is that you can, if you so choose, eventually take over your game as one of your children, or even your spouse. Different things can and will happen. If you choose your spouse new missions may come up that could/can benefit your spouse, like having to rescue them if they get captured, or severely injured.
     Taking over your child can benefit you if your main perma-dies. So its in your best interest to take care of your family. Some folks may not like the life-sim idea, and it will be entirely voluntary, but for folks that get into it, there will be some major bonuses to raising a family.
     If you perma-die and you've got a kid, you'll step into your child's shoes and pick up where you left off, to some extent. You're kid will get any credit the parent had, and have access to anything the parent had stored, but nothing the dead parent was currently carrying or money that wasn't in electronic form. The better care you took of your family the better the child's starting stats will be. If you don't/didn't take care of your kid then it will be like starting a new character, just with more money and starting stuff.
     For players that really get into the sim aspect of the game, the kid can advance your tech level of gear. For Humans, other than adapting other race's edquipment this is the best way to advance their technology. If enough people do this, then the entire race's tech level will advance. It's possible for one player to have his race's tech level be much more advanced then everyone else of that race. Higher tech means better stuff, lower weight, more damage, more protection etc etc. As this advanced player, you can sell your stuff to other players for a tidy profit. So while player the sim aspect of the game isn't mandatory, it's a good idea to at least try.
     The "sim" isn't going to be extremely complex. Stop into your player own home, speak with the fam occasionally, put money into your "family" account (the player account will be seperate, money in the "family" account will be spent randomly by the family).

Examples of playing/not playing the "sim"--
     Player named "Distillery" gets into the sim. He comes home at least once a day and talks to his virtual wife (clicks on her and chooses to tell his wife he loves her out several topics, entire conversation takes 5 seconds), does the same for his daughter, deposits some money in the family account, and drops off a random item in his daughter's room which boosts the relation status with the daughter because she thinks it's a gift. Anything dropped in his room, or the rest of the house, is considered "Distillery's" property. Rooms can/will be assignable, meaning "Distillery" could opt to assign the kitchen as the wife's room, so anything put in there the wife considers a gift. Distillery still technically owns everything, and can pick up the item and sell it or whatever, but you get a corresponding drop in family points by doing so. Better items get more points. Some items, like giving your kid a gun can have positive and possibly negative effects. Taking your kid out with you can have some major bonuses, or possibly cons as well. A lot of things will be randomly determined, it's possible that her pistol skill could be significantly lower than her fathers, or that she decides she hates hunting and skinning animals.
"Distillery" dies and opts to continue the game as his daughter "Alexandria".
What does Alexandria get?
Pros (all examples)
--All his property (everything that wasn't being carried by Distillery when he died)
--All his money
--Because he kept a tidy bank balance she is well educated so her skills are within 10% plus or minus of her fathers.
--She is an expert skinner because of her father's fondness for giving her hides. Meaning the hides she skins are worth more (+1 skinning over her father's skill level)
--She is a good shot with a pistol because dad gave her a pulse pistol for her 12th birthday (+1 pistol skill over her fathers, so if he had 2 pistol skill, she has 3)
--Because daddy took her hunting occasionally, she can also track animals as good as her father.(+1 tracking)
Cons
--The job her father was on when he died went south, and the people that hired him want compensation, and they'll take it in any way they can. What does Alexandria do? Complete the job, go rogue and kill all the bastards? All valid choices. (since you can only perma-die in pvp, there are no pvp missions. But if the parent had an unifinished pve job in his journal, it's possible that it can come back and haunt the child, if there are 10 unfinished jobs, then 1 or all of them could come around to haunt the kid. Unlikely, but possible.)
--Alexandria had an older brother, he was upset because dad left everything to Alexandria. He decides to maker he life miserable. (what this means, is at random times he may show up and try to kill her, or that she may take a mission that specifically involves trying to stop her psycho brother or something.)
--She accidentally shot herself in the leg a few days after her 12th birthday. But since her father kept a tidy family bank balance, she was fitted with a fairly decent cybernetic replacement. (pulse pistols are nasty to flesh and bone) She walks with a slight limp (game animations will show a limp), but her movement speed is virtually the same.
--During one hunting trip, a feral chihuahua attacked her. So now she is deathly afraid of chihuahuas and can't seem to fight them as effective as before.(-3 to hit the little rabid bastards, and absolutely refuses to skin them or carve them up for eats, will not eat chihuahua meat to save her life)
Keep in mind these are just examples.

Any crafting skills she has, that her father also had at the time of his death that are above lvl 3, will automatically be produced at 1 higher tech level.
Example
Distillery had a knack for cobbling together pistols. The pulse pistol he gave Alexandria was an example of his handiwork. He died with "Weapons Engineer" skill level of 4. Barring anything bad happening during the transition to playing Alexandria, there's a good chance Alexandria will have "Weapons Engineer" skill of 4 or 5, and everything she makes with the skill, even if at a lower skill level will be more advanced technologically and do more damage than an equivalent level weapon made by her father. Keep in mind that "Tech Level" and "Skill Level" are different. Tech Level is the level of sophistication an item is. Skill Level is self explanatory.
If she later pickes up "Armor Engineer", anything she makes with this skill will be the equivalent to anything her father would've made if he had the skill. There is no tech bonus to this skill because Distillery didn't have it.

Forum Troll was a jackass,,,,, WTF is a "Forum Troll" anyway? Distillery was a good man, and didn't deserve what happened to him.

Now, "Forum Troll" doesn't like the "sim" aspect of the game. He refuses to take part. He has a player home, but won't take a wife, so he can't have kids. He dies in pvp and gets the random perma-death roll. So now he's fucked. He has to make a brand new character.

Good on Alexandria, she mopped the floor with Forum Troll and avenged a good man. Her father would be proud.

     The next time around he takes a wife, has a kid, but that's it. He does nothing else with the "sim". He dies another cowardly death in pvp (he's a griefer and get's ganked by Alexandria.) This time he can step into his kid's shoes. His kid inherits all of dad's money and property, but the character itself is the equivalent of rolling a brand new character.
("Forum Troll" actually reminds me of someone that came on to some forums a few years back and started wildly bashing this aspect of a game. He failed to read anything I had put down, started making wild accusations about different aspects of the game but made it absolutely clear that he had read nothing)

Keep in mind, perma-death can only happen during pvp. Even then it's a very, very low chance of it happening. (Chances can be increased or decreased via gear and/or weapons.)

     A player can at anytime choose to play another family member. Choosing your spouse will allow you to swap back and forth to your main, or your spouse. However, choosing your child makes your child your new main and you can't go back. Also, you can't choose your spouse's skills or attributes, they're randomly chosen when you decide to marry that NPC. Playing your spouse can make for some interesting experiences. (spouses always start as NPCs unless you marry another player)

There will be varying degrees of "sim" to the life sim. A player can set it's realism levels to mimic as close as possible to real life, or just standard fair. The higher the settings. the more stuff, both good and bad, can happen to your family while the main character is away.
Examples----possibilities on a high setting-----
--Keeping a low family bank balance, your spouse leaves you.
--Keeping a low family bank balance, but you are nice to your spouse and give him/her stuff daily, she gets a job and occasionally deposits small sums into your personal account. (this will be small and regulated amounts, not enough to make a person rich, but enough to keep you patched up and healthy.) Spouse may also get a job randomly regardless of family bank balance. Only difference is where the money is deposited, or if it gets deposited at all. This can open up new random missions if the bank your spouse works at is getting robbed and it's up to you to save the day.
--You never speak to your kid, he/she rarely goes to school, joins a gang, and shows up in a mission you just recieved to chase away a gang of cybered up meatheads. You have to shoot him/her, that makes his/her malfunction even worse, she/he turns to prostitution and dies, or goes full on 'borg and comes after you.
--A player will be able to take their kids on adventures with them. The kids will be uncontrollable, but if you equip them well, and start out slow with easy missions and don't let them get hurt to badly, they can grow into stout and stalwart companions. Nothing will replace other player characters, but I feel having the option in a pinch or just for fun will and is a good game concept.
All the above plays out in randomly generated missions (if it's reasonable to do so, if your spouse leaves you, there's no reason to have anything more than a pop up showing "I'm leaving you you worthless bitch/bastard"). No matter how well you take care of your family, the higher the "sim" setting, the more "reasonable" randomness is going to be thrown in. "Reasonable" meaning there is a lower chance your kid goes rabid if you take care of them than someone who doesn't give a shit their kid even exists. It will still be possible, as in real life, just less likely. All these things can influence the family's growth. Better skills, attributes etc.

----possibilities on a low setting-----
--Keeping a low family bank balance, your spouse won't leave you, but is much much less likely to pop out a kid for you.
--Keeping a low family bank balance, spouse won't get a job to help out.
--Less random, to no random events happening.
--Children are less likely to develop superior skills to the parents.
--Taking over a child on this setting, even if you take excellent care of the kid means the kid will most likely be equal to the parent, but very very unlikely to be superior.
--Less missions, less possibilities for adventures, your spouse won't ever be kidnapped, kids won't go rabid, etc etc.
--You can't take your family on missions with you.

It will also be possible for players to marry each other as well. They'll be able to have kids together and everything that can happen above can happen in this instance, except for the parents being kidnapped. PCs can't be kidnapped. If both parents are away from home and their are little ones, it is assumed, regardless of "sim" setting, that they've provided a baby sitter. (Unless enough players request that the parents actually pay for and provide a baby sitter somehow, maybe they have to pay for a Nanny or something, which also opens up a whole new realm of missions, or possibly even building a robot nanny with the robot engineering skill/programming skills.)
Players won't be able to swap back and forth to their spouses characters if they're both player controlled, and they'll need to have more than one kid to take over if both parents die.

Keep in mind, all of this is in addition to the main game. As I've mentioned before, I want choice, and the decisions you've already made to actually mean something.