What is a house without a window?

[Stan-K]

What would you expect from windows in a RimWorld colony?

I would like to build windows for the colonists. To get that homey feel you just don't get in a room without any natural lighting. This as well as for the shooting-through-the-window-like-they-did-in-the-wild-west feeling. It would allow for a lot of extra building styles, in an intuitive way, and it could be relatively simple to add.

Adding windows will make it easier to build a colony with minimal power usage, especially if you set the pawns scheduling (a10) to sleep during the dark hours. Windows would add some benefit to cave dwelling colonies, but lots of benefits to outdoor colonies, balancing these two styles slightly. E.g. to defend an open colony, windows would add a lot extra hard cover on your walls (currently, I just build lots, and lots of doors, which doesn't look right). But mostly, windows just make sense.

So I suggest the main window behaviours:

• Natural lighting. Perhaps make the window's surroundings 'lit', if one side is 'brightly lit'.
• Cover. They can be like sandbags between a wall, think wall/sandbag/wall.
• Temperature. Like temperature flows acts on doors. Some leakage when closed, a lot when open.
• Movement. Pawns can climb through them like doors on top of sandbags (time to open, and slow to get through).
• Movement/shooting. They could be locked locked like doors, or by a controller, preventing movement as well as shooting.

My favourites snippets from older window threads (indeed, without their full context):

As this game is loosely based on Firefly and one of my favourite episodes being the defence of a brothel, where the party fortify the building and fire at the raiders from the windows. This is also a strong staple of shoot outs and standoffs in many Western films e.g Young Guns (1988).

The colonists should really like to look outside and should feel trapped when they are in a position where they can't see the outside for too long.

The window should give a larger bonus depending on the 'view'. The more cells without anything in it (like walls or rocks) should increase the bonus. When people can see wildlife (for example boomrats, muffalos or cacti) from their windows the bonus should be even larger.

And a nice thread on different types of windows

[SSS]

I like most of your ideas for windows. The only part I would be concerned about is the window thought bonus, but I'm sure Tynan could keep it balanced.

+1

[dazhat]

Windows would be great. There is already a cabin fever effect. Maybe the cabin fever could be stronger and windows could help nullify it. It would also discourage the underground mountain fortress behaviour which some players feel is unrealistic.

I think they would make a great addition to combat. They could make colonists much less likely to be killed if standing behind a stone wall and shooting out of the window every few seconds.

[mcduff]

These are all great ideas! +1

[Necronomocoins]

I like the idea. Maybe different size windows could have different amount of buff/debuff and, if you have a room with a window and change it to a prisoner room, the prisoner has chance to escape through the window, taking 5 or 6 seconds to get through and possibly cut themselves breaking the window and climbing through. I write from experience.

[Cryorus]

+1 definitly a good idea, maybe reduce the toughness a bit since it isn't a full wall.

[eberkain]

Windows are a must!  Love the idea.

[hector212121]

Might I suggest making it "window-wall?"

As in, a wall with a window, maybe with 10% less health?

That way, a "window wall" can act as cover.