Are rescue missions supposed to be impossible until end game?

[Zombull]

And if so, why trigger so many in early game?

I keep getting missions to go rescue a downed or enslaved relative, but inevitably they're protected by well armed pawns and half a dozen turrets. It doesn't make a lot of sense to even try these missions.

[Golden]

Agreed!  I got 3 within the first couple months, I think.  And there was NO WAY I could even afford to send out one pawn, much less the several required, even if I had good equipment to do it with and I didn't.

[Zombull]

I had several active at the same time. All with relationships to the same colonist. So either I try to rescue them or I just plan for him going berserk n a few days.

This was Cassandra, some challenge, btw.

[Aerial]

Seconding (or third or fourth-ing) the sentiment that rescue operations are completely impossible during early game.  Do they not scale like regular raids?

I was playing Cassandra Rough.  Day 15-ish I got an incapacitated colonist mission, for one of my colonist's mother.  Given how bad the negative moodlet would be if she died, I decided to go for it.  I only had 4 pawns in my colony, and only 3 capable of violence.  Those three were armed with the starter weapons and armor that come with the crashlanding scenario.  I sent all three on the rescue mission, only to encounter 10 bandits armed with pistols, SMGs and grenades. 

Is this supposed to be a winnable scenario?  I can see it being remotely possible if I spend most of a quadrum building defenses (assuming I can mine enough steel to make sandbags and deadfalls), but that seems way out of proportion to the combat level of the rest of the game and probably means my original colony will be lost given that no one is there to hold off any raids or manhunters that happen. 

[Wanderer_joins]

Rescue missions should be easier. And you should be rewarded if you go get them early, like " x saw a refugee pod burning through the sky, it crashed nearby, go rescue y asap to get there before enemies " and the sooner you get there the less likely you're to encounter a threat.

It makes sense to have strong defenses in bandit camp or item stashes, less for refugee pods.

[silenced]

Though I have to agree, that some of the missions early are close to impossible, there are still enough that are quite easy. I snagged myself an infinite chem fuel generator. Whee!

Did some of you check the travel times recently? They are much lower than before. So rescueing someone that crashed a few tiles away = not an impossible thing.

Rescueing a hostage is another thing, bring mortars and shells (snagged from sieges on yourself at best.)

[ashaffee]

Early game you go for tribal for rescue, way easier. A downed person is a great target too because it is portioned to your wealth. I did a mission vs a prison camp before year 1 on naked brutal Cassandra extreme. There were only 3 guys. 1 on the mortar and 2 walking around. I got in the sweet spot. Out of turret range but in mortor no fire zone and out gunned the guys and killed them with my 3 pawns.


The turrets I found the best way is to snipe electrical wires, batteries or solar panels. Take great bows in your inventory and snipe early on in the fight then switch to shotguns and hide behind something after you draw the person off the mortar. Later switching back to greatbows to snipe the turrets.

[TheMeInTeam]

It's pretty bizarre that you can claim solar panels + batteries such that these are considered yours (all raiders dead), but the turrets are still hostile + shoot at you.  They're easy enough to outrange at least.

[SihvMan]

It's pretty bizarre that you can claim solar panels + batteries such that these are considered yours (all raiders dead), but the turrets are still hostile + shoot at you.  They're easy enough to outrange at least.

You can claim turrets if you can de-power them. I usually force fire a sniper at the power lines once all raiders are dead. It takes time, but allows you to claim everything.

[TheMeInTeam]

AR and a bunch of other weapons can outrange turrets, so you actually have some options there.  Without range management via structures turrets are really weak.

[giltirn]

My concern with world-missions in general is the potential to lose your base because you are sending most of your best colonists out. What on Earth am I supposed to do if I get attacked while my guys are away? Strikes me that world missions are a luxury only available to large colonies with mainly automated defenses. It just encourages killboxes and other cheesing of the raid mechanics, something I thought we were being discouraged from.

[Zombull]

Again today, a "downed refugee (relationship)" mission. Said "there are sleeping mechs nearby". I have 2 decent shooters. One with an excellent pistol and one with an excellent bolt action rifle. It was very close by so I went there anyway with my 2 good shooters and 3 poor-mediocre shooters. There were FIVE scythers sleeping right next to the downed pawn. What the heck am i supposed to do? I tried sneaking up to save her, but of course they woke up and sliced us all to pieces.

Reloaded a save. I don't even bother with hardcore because of ridiculous crap like this.

[Snafu_RW]

These are /sleeping/ mechs. It's possible for pawn(s) to sneak between mechs, grab <stuff> & get out without 'waking' them..

[Zombull]

These are /sleeping/ mechs. It's possible for pawn(s) to sneak between mechs, grab <stuff> & get out without 'waking' them..

That was my thought, too. Didn't work.

[Rulin]

I had 1 sleeping mech event where they kept sleeping, so it ended up pretty easy. My first one though was a masaker.