Hello everyone! Today well cover one of the most essential features of the upcoming Rags to Riches update - Caravan Followers.
Followers are a fundamental part of the Caravan, allowing you to customize it depending on your needs. During your travels through Aldor, youll be given an option to recruit a small retinue of helpers, each granting access to unique opportunities that will benefit both the Caravan and your Character. Before we begin, it must be noted that Followers wont accompany you everywhere you go or participate in battles the same way they would in a party-based RPG: all of them either lack proficiency in soldierly matters or avoid getting into fights for personal reasons. The support they provide is exclusively out-of-combat, such as granting access to trading, repairs, and a plethora of other things that well talk about in more details below.
We plan to have six unique Followers in total, three of which will be introduced with Rags to Riches. The first one is Darrel, your old acquaintance, whom well take a better look at in this devlog. The rest of the gang will remain a secret - youll have a chance to meet them after the update is out. The only tidbit we can share for now is that all of them (except Darrel) will be newly-made NPCs, none of them present in the current version of the game. The Caravan can accommodate up to three Followers - according to Verren, a crew larger than that wouldnt be sufficiently discrete and mobile to carry out the search for Stoneshards. If needed, itll be possible to swap your Followers mid-journey: they can be dismissed at will and then replaced with someone else. Obviously, this works both ways: an already recruited Follower can later rejoin the Caravan. Still, maintaining a stable team with infrequent rotations will be the most sensible approach - the reason will become clear in a moment. The search for new Followers starts with Verren. After receiving the initial sum necessary for purchasing additional horses and a new wagon, hell direct you towards your specialist of choice - whatever happens next depends on the Follower, since all of them have a small quest connected to their recruitment. Once youre done with that part, the Follower will join the Caravan and head to the Camp, where youll finally be able to make use of their services: Darrel, for instance, can lend a hand with repairs or sell you a variety of tools.
Additionally, each Follower comes with four unique perks. The first two are actives: most of them will be presented in the form of dialogue options that grant access to special actions and effects. The remaining two are passives and will usually be focused on improving different aspects of the Caravan. Freshly recruited Followers will have only two perks unlocked: one active and one passive. The rest will need to be earned by raising a Followers Loyalty, a stat reflecting their commitment to your cause. Loyalty will grow by itself with each passing day as long as said Follower is in the Caravan and can also be improved through Caravan events, dialogues, and the choices you make during them.
Followers will have five tiers of Loyalty:

• Indifference [0%] : unlocks the first two perks
• Sympathy [25%]: unlocks the second passive perk
• Cordiality [50%]: the Follower will occasionally provide additional assistance and offer you gifts
• Appreciation [75%]: unlocks the second active perk
• Devotion [100%]: reduces the price of all goods and services by 20%

And heres a list of Darrels perks:

• Forced March (Active): once per week (and for a modest price), allows you to move the Caravan while its still on cooldown
  
• Ingenuity (Active): allows you to pay Darrel to permanently improve an items Max Durability by 25%, which also reduces its future repair cost
  
• Familiar Roads (Passive): +20% Caravan Speed
  
• Safe Routes (Passive): -25% Ambush Chance and +3 to the Caravan Trade Radius

The final element of the Followers System is Caravan events, which are designed to liven up your Camp and give you more reasons to interact with it regularly. Each Follower has their own roster of events that will activate from time to time upon your return to the Caravan. Some of them are unique and can only trigger once, while others are repeatable. In general, theyre implemented as dialogues or small cutscenes that either offer you various boons and opportunities or provide additional insight into a Followers aspirations and personality.
As an example, Darrel might occasionally fix some of the items you leave in the Caravan Storage (informing you about it after hes done), offer you a bundle of surplus tools for a symbolic price, participate in a chat with Verren and other Followers, comment on certain nearby locations, or even express his thoughts about some of your recent adventures. But even outside of events, different Followers will have different routines in your Camp: just like other NPCs, theyll have their own schedule and activities, the list of which can change depending on acquired Caravan Upgrades. Darrel in particular became quite pious after the events of the Prologue and will gladly use the Praying Spot once you set it up:
======================= Thats all for now. The work on Rags to Riches is drawing to a close - the release date will be announced within the next few devlogs, so make sure to stay tuned!