Unstable build feedback thread

[Dashthechinchilla]

Randy rough tribal
Temperate 50/60 small hills
Permadeath
First summer, I restarted when I got errors on my last save
5 to 10 hours played
Hugs lib, skylights, memorable aurora, Infestation disabled

I took my first gourmand on a start. The first day they went into a food binge and ate all my pemmican. Luckily about the 4th day a cargo pod of 40 nutrient paste fell from the sky. My tribals were less happy than I was lol.

My previous playthrough I didn't have predators, so I was happy to see them this time. On a tribal they help you get food and leather you need. I have noticed that the leather drop decreased.

Tribal cooks will take meals from restricted stacks if they placed it in there. I was trying to get them to focus on the paste meals by restricting the simple meals, but the cooks would grab from the restricted stack having just placed it.

Food poisoning is definitely reduced. I didn't get a metal floor this time, so I built on rough sandstone. I can't seem to find any dirt on it, the option never appears to clean. It has to be dirty by now, it has been days. But I don't get dirty kitchen food poisoning, just incompetent cook.

Now headed into second spring. I now have about 10 people, mostly from chased refugees. Two recruited pirates. I still get crashed escape pods, but they are always for the rough outlander faction. They aren't interesting enough to keep, and my colony is doing ok anyway. Released for faction gain. I haven't got electricity yet, so I don't want to grow too expansively.

In the relations tab it states that if the faction goodwill falls below 0, the rough outlanders will become hostile. However, it naturally fell to -4 and they remained neutral.

I got my first 1.0 fallout. I was pretty worried, but it ended after only about 10 days. I had a colony full of cats that randomly joined. I kept them because I was hoping a bulk trader would come buy them. I slaughtered them for food. One had Initial fallout, and it didn't instantly rot, so the rot must be a higher level of fallout. The animals that died in the fields later all rotted immediately. I tried allowing my growers to only work uncovered in the fields, but the plants died faster than they grew even in rich soil. So, I set my colonists to making blocks and building a greenhouse (skylights mod). Since the fallout only lasted 10 days, I never needed it. The tribals just finished building it and are still installing the glass, but the fallout has ended. I thought I got lucky because I got a bulk goods trader. I had tons of leftover leather left around from a year of no bulk traders, and I bought them out of stock. I got the notice they were leaving just as I got the notice the fallout was settling.

My version of randy seems to enjoy paste meals. I got 24 that dropped during the fallout. I did what I did before and restricted the better stuff to make them eat them before they went bad. I am amazed at the lengths colonists will go to avoid them. The only food they prefer less is unsafe raw food or veggies. The cooks did the thing again where they grabbed from restricted piles after just placing a meal. Everyone else literally got to the point where their food bar was almost in the starving range before they would even consider grabbing the paste meals. They definitely refused to carry extra of them in inventory. It was like watching stubborn children trying to not eat their vegetables, lol.

Rough stone is a great thing to build your kitchen on top of. As I noted above, it never gets dirty. With their fallout free time, my builders spent time smoothing my kitchen, and now I have to keep it clean. bummer.

[Awe]

Believe me 19 hives is still nothing... And you don't want to have hives multiply at x5 rate. Just nope.

Hives anyway much better than inferno centipedes drops into your craft room or drugs stockpile. 

[Talys]

--SNIP--
The problem is that when it spawns, I know I'm going to be microing 30+ pawns and possibly animals, unpausing for 1 second, then microing them all again, then unpausing again, etc.  I'm going to be doing that for the next 1-2 hours IRL.  I don't have time for this shit, I'm supposed to be having fun here and this is the opposite of it.  Because of this, I always have infestations turned off. (turned them back on for now just because test version etc)

In the above screenshot, there are 29 colonists vs. NINETEEN hives.  Each hive produces 5+ bugs.  That's over 100 hyper-hostile, OP melee guys running through my base.  Now, I can probably set up a defense and ride it out, but they will destroy my stockpile, all of my colonists and animals will be dead or injured, and it will take me 2-3 hours IRL.  Tedious, boring, game-ending nonsense, either ending my game outright or just ending my will to play it.  I console killed them all.

--SNIP--

(Cassandra Survival Struggle, 40/60 mountainous temperate forest, non-commitment mode, 640 days colony age, ~20h in the last 3 days, no mods)

29 hives vs 19 colonists is not a big problem if your layout & preparation (zones prepared etc) is good - having a dedicated SAFETY zone for Animals (in my case, the hospital, which is outside the area hives usually spawn in) helps a TON with animal micro...
I'm running with 19 colonists aswell, and current infestations are ~45 hives on a regular base, the last patch with more concentrated hive spawning helped a LOT with the overall survivability - I do dislike the infestations aswell, but it's less of a micro issue than the week of cleanup after an infestation
(1) Prepare for hives spawning in the walkways, i.e. bonus (usually forbidden) doors between rooms where colonists can safely travel
(2) Prepare Zones where you can avoid microing animals & "useless" colonists
(3) know your colonists and what to do...

I work with 3-wide paths in- & outside the base, with the main entrance outside being 5 wide.
3 Melees (power armor + shield belt + spear/longsword, decent quality) for the initial contact and being a line of initial defense
6 Pawns behind them (2x3 block) with decent chain shotguns (no power armor, no flak vests) for close support
6 more Pawns behind those (another 2x3 block) with charge lances (no power armor / flak vests either) for picking off insects further away...

Shooting Skill decides the weapon use - 0-6 gets a minigun (since skill doesn't matter for those), 7-11 gets a chain shotgun & everything above an assault rifle or charge lance

that layout means 15/19 colonists in use, means I can have my pacifists & nudists running around without participating in the fight, and it doesn't even use animals
Some impressions from the last infestation(s) - Kaori died during the 2nd because she was having a smokeleaf binge before the infestation started and was subsequently cut down in the process, nothing I really could've done, ressurector mech serum got her back soon afterwards...
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/225277682353438720/471757279084150784/20180724185837_1.jpg
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/225277682353438720/471757382712557570/20180725203403_1.jpg

Current base looks like this - did some further infestation proofing - all that matters is preparation & having options
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/225277682353438720/473225963866423296/20180729223029_1.jpg

Also: bugged debug graphs (I guess it's because the colony is older than the debug graph feature), see attachment

[attachment deleted due to age]

[Aszh]

Thanks, but I don't need help killing the event.  I can kill the event.  I need help not being terminally bored by the event.

[Awe]

But Talys give a good advice how to deal with infestations in few minutes instead of few hours and without boring micro/pausing.

[Greep]

Now that trap corridors aren't horribly OP, I don't think mountain infestations need to be so insane.  You're not really getting as much from living under the mountains these days.

[Madman666]

Now that trap corridors aren't horribly OP, I don't think mountain infestations need to be so insane.  You're not really getting as much from living under the mountains these days.

I'd go further and say "now that trap corridors aren't a thing anymore". And yep, insect could use a well deserved nerf. They either absolutely destroy you, or it turns into a long moping up session.

[Polder]

Storyteller: Cassandra
Difficulty: merciless struggle
Biome/hilliness: flat tropical swamp with a large river
Commitment mode: yes
Current colony age (days): 149
Hours played in the last 2 days: 20
Complete mod list: no mods

My starting pawn Soto was an industrious crafter and grower and otherwise poor skills. She recruited the first raider, named Freeman. He was good with a rifle and a capable crafter.

The colonists hunted animals for food and pelts. Freeman went to a nearby settlement to sell animal fur clothes and buy much needed medicine, but it turned out that he was incapable of trading so he had to return.

Soon after returning Freeman got gut worms. They spent spent a few more days hunting and crafting clothing. Soto then left to finally make a trade. While she was away, Freeman fell ill with the sleeping sickness. This was bad. While herbal medicine was available, Freeman was also incapable of doctoring.

Soto bought an assault rifle, some chemfuel and a lot of medicine and hurried back. Hours after starting the return trip, she contracted the plague. While she was a poor doctor, the high quality medicine was enough to cure her. Due to these recent unpleasant events, she also had a mental breakdown, which halted her travelling and resulted in er running out of food.

Freeman repelled a one-man raid and went back to bed, only to also contract the plague. Now he had gut worms, a progressing sleeping sickness and the plague.

When Soto returned, the plague was already extreme and Freeman had only hours to live. Shortly after burying Freeman, Soto contracted the flu.

Several weeks later, a super soldier named Sharr joined. Besides shooting and melee, he isn't good for much but at least he could research unlike Soto who was incapable of intellectual work.

Sharr returned from a successful item stash mission with an excellent charge rifle and a bionic heart.
Soto was so impressed she fell in love with Sharr.

Day 104: Soto and Sharr announce their marriage. Soto has the bionic heart installed. Soto's old heart is placed in storage.

Day 121: a great elephant hunt comes to an end. The colony now has over thousand elephant leather and 10 tusks.

Day 128: While Soto was on a trade mission, pirates attack. They are repelled easily, but while chasing the remaining pirates, a stray bullet hit an elephant in a nearby herd, and they all turn manhunter. Sharr and Jaguar stand no chance and are downed immediately. After a while, Sharr manages to stand up again. Jaguar and two raiders are incapable of walking and bleeding to death. The elephants are circling the base and there is no way to make it back to the base, so Sharr sets up a hospital on the spot to treat Jaguar. Then he tries to treat his own wounds but loses consciousness halfway through. Back at the base, Boomrat is trying to kill the elephants but makes little progress. During the night, the elephants finally calm down and Boomrat rescues Sharr and Jaguar. Unfortunately Boomrat is incapable of doctoring and so Sharr bleeds out.

In the morning, shortly after Sharr's burial, another raid arrives. Only Boomrat is capable of fighting, and most of the traps are down due to the elephants. Boomrat tries his best but takes a bit too much risk, receives a headshot and is incapacitated. The raiders decide to kidnap him and leave. The prison is burning and prisoner Betty dies. The potato field is burning. Jaguar is somehow still not infected but he is too weak to stand and severely starved. Soto has a mental breakdown because her husband died. Aside from the prison, the base is intact. During the night, sparks from a short circuit set the textile stockpile in the base on fire. So now the base is burning from the inside. Soto comes home to a ruined base, and everyone dead or kidnapped. She butchers an elephant, eats the raw flesh and then collapses.

Soto begins reconstructing the base but catches malaria. Fortunately she brought some medicine back from the trip. Later she has a mental breakdown, goes on a wake-up binge, becomes addicted and prompty overdoses.

Several days later, Soto gets sleeping sickness begins experiencing withdrawal symptoms as there is no more wake-up left.

Another several days later, a psychiatric patient on the run from town guards joins the colony. Unfortunately she is incapable of caring, social and violence and therefore more a liability than a help, so I immediately sacrifice her to the RNG god.

The downward spiral continues, and Soto eventually collapses outside after multiple mental breakdowns and starves to death. The colony lasted 149 days.

(can we please get rid of "incapable of", thanks. It is so immersion breaking to have a pawn that cannot trade at all for no good reason, or won't do doctoring even if his friends will die, or prefers dying over cooking)

[Copperwire]

One thing with having repeated infestations is it does a lot of combat/medical skill training with fairly low risk.  Hives can net be a resource.  The only time they are a bad event is when your not ready or at higher wealth levels.  Adding or removing a few walls can be used as a switch.  I don't play mountains, but most maps have at least one place with DM.

[Awe]

Now that trap corridors aren't horribly OP, I don't think mountain infestations need to be so insane.  You're not really getting as much from living under the mountains these days.

Tradeoff between possible grenade or centipedes drop in middle of base and just a silly bugs already worth it. Even in current state.

[Syrchalis]

I'd go further and say "now that trap corridors aren't a thing anymore". And yep, insect could use a well deserved nerf. They either absolutely destroy you, or it turns into a long moping up session.

I don't think they are such a problem. However they do indeed cause massive amounts of dirt which is really annoying. Taking out the hives is also very very annoying. It would be great if active hives would get auto-target by pawns. My shift key is about to break from all the queued up orders.

[Talys]

Awe - I know that you don't need help dealing with infestations your way - but infestations twice or even thrice the size of yours can be dealt within less than 10 minutes (at most)... and that was what I was trying to show you
Less Micro with a similar (or better) result

Syrchalis - Yeah, the amount of dirt infestations cause is the point that annoys me more than the event happening - no matter how quickly and well you defend against the insects, it'll still require several days of cleanup afterwards

[Greep]

Well if you open the doors to your base w/ hold open and fire foam it like you should, drop pods are somewhat manageable.  The mechanoids just walk out and get shot by turrets.  I think the issue is everyone's immediate reaction to fighting drop pods is to fight them inside to stop the carnage.  This only leads to tears 

Really sucks if you're giving someone surgery during it though. 

[Madman666]

I don't think they are such a problem. However they do indeed cause massive amounts of dirt which is really annoying. Taking out the hives is also very very annoying. It would be great if active hives would get auto-target by pawns. My shift key is about to break from all the queued up orders.

If you have armored melees they're annoying but fine, i guess, if RNG s on your side. If you don't - they're awful, but then again without armor everything is awful nowdays... But i agree they're not nearly as annoying as cheesy mechanoid drops on your head. I loathe those.

[Awe]

Awe - I know that you don't need help dealing with infestations your way - but infestations twice or even thrice the size of yours can be dealt within less than 10 minutes (at most)... and that was what I was trying to show you
Less Micro with a similar (or better) result

Im ok with infestations. Deal with them in same way - block door/hall with heavy armored melee guys and just shoot from behind. Only thing i dont like - is looking for hives. Im always skip some, under corpses or between full stockpiles.