Better Special Customers

Make the Special Customer groups worth your time. They buy far more, they remember how you treat them, and each group's leader now has a job for you.

AI disclosure: A large part of this mod was produced with AI. The code, the quest and dialogue text, and this description were written largely with Claude, Anthropic's AI assistant, working from my design decisions. I (Lumahex) chose what the mod should do, directed the work, and tested it in the game, but I did not write most of the code by hand. Please keep that in mind when you report problems, and see Known issues below.

What it does

Higher buy limits

Vanilla groups stop buying at 120 units, and the game's own formula already reaches that at the top rank, so higher ranks did nothing. This mod replaces it with a straight line from each group's normal starting amount up to 200 units at Kingpin.

Relationships

Every Special Customer group now has its own relationship with you, from 0 to 5, using the same level names as the game's own relationships (Hostile, Unfriendly, Neutral, Friendly, Loyal).

• It changes how much they buy. The group's limit is multiplied by x0.5 at relationship 0, x1.0 at 2.5 and x1.5 at 5. Every group starts at 2.5, so a fresh game plays like vanilla until you start building relationships.
• You earn it by selling. Sell a group at least 75% of their limit during a visit and the relationship goes up by 0.5. It can only rise once per visit, and it takes effect on their next visit.
• Hurting a group costs you. Attacking, aiming at or killing their customers, or failing a pickpocket on them, lowers the relationship. Each action has a short cooldown, so one fight doesn't wipe it out.
• It's saved with your game, per group. If you remove the mod, your save still loads.

At the top rank and top relationship a group can buy up to 300 units.

Quests from the group leaders

Open a leader's dialogue and ask for work. Each visit there is a 50% chance they have a job (decided once per visit). Finishing a job pays its reward and adds +0.5 to your relationship with the group. Each job can be done once per visit, and an unfinished job is dropped when the group leaves.

The bikers' and businessmen's jobs involve violence against an NPC. The target is a new character made for the job, with a random name and look each time.

Requirements

• Schedule I
• MelonLoader
• S1API (used by the quests). Use the latest BETA VERSION of S1API. Found on the github page for S1API, under releases

Installation

1. Install MelonLoader for Schedule I if you haven't already.
2. Install S1API for your version of the game (Mono or IL2CPP).
3. Put the mod's .dll in your game's Mods folder:
   • BetterSpecialCustomers_Mono.dll for the Mono version
   • BetterSpecialCustomers_IL2Cpp.dll for the IL2CPP version
4. Start the game.

Compatibility and known issues

• Both builds exist, but the Mono build has had the most testing. The IL2CPP build is newer and less tested.
• Multiplayer: relationships are tracked by the host. Other players' screens (for example the arrival popup) may show the normal number without the relationship bonus. Quest XP is awarded by the host.
• Quests are new. Some quest NPC outfits use items that may not exist in every game version. A missing item is skipped and logged instead of crashing.
• There is no config file yet. The numbers (the 200 cap, the relationship range, rewards) are set in the code. If you want something adjustable, tell me.

Reporting problems

Please include your MelonLoader/Latest.log and say whether you use the Mono or IL2CPP version. Lines starting with [BetterSpecialCustomers] and [quest] are the useful ones.

Credits

Made by Lumahex, with a lot of help from Claude (Anthropic). Built on MelonLoader, Harmony and S1API by ifBars.