Salvage the Crash

[Solanus]

This is my first post here in the forums, and I wanted to make it a good one, so I'm going to throw out an idea or three that I've had since starting to play the game last month.

I think the use of "Gilligan tech" is a bit much, at this point of development, with many technologies usable out of the gate without anything on hand beyond raw metal and hand-held tools (advanced or not).  I would think that the survivors would have to rely on salvaging parts and materials off of crashed starship sections, including the lifepods and lifeboats that people would arrive in.  In addition to raw materials (rather than just "metal") that can be stripped from wrecks, there would be two additional things available: parts and components.

"Parts" are full-on technological bits (e.g., functioning viewing screens, CPUs, small electric motors) that don't specifically perform a larger function on their own, but can be used to assemble a "building", piece of "furniture", or other object.  Rather than specifically identifying all of the bits separately, the parts quantity abstractly represents the amount of functional elements available for building any tech device.  Parts can be recovered from wrecks and damaged constructions at the player's camp (and possibly other camps).

"Components" are larger, more complete and intact sections of specific key constructions, like the synthesis chamber for a nutrient paste dispenser or the motion sensor for an automated turret.  When salvaged from wrecks, these will more than likely be damaged and in need of repair before they can be used to create a new construction.  If this is the first time working with the component, the survivors will need to research how to fix it at the research table before they can attempt construction.  Once the component can be and is fixed, the player can click on it (damaged and fixed components can be stored on a shelving unit) to bring up the option to construct the full object, which is then completed just as normal.

As mentioned earlier, these "parts" and "components" are initially retrieved from "wrecks", sections of ships (or their launches) that crashed on the planet surface in various states of damage.  These wrecks would be used in lieu of the normal dispersals of food or metal periodically strewn across an area of the map.  When survivors explore a wreck, some of the materials, food, parts, and components will be lying loose in the crash site, while others can be readily stripped from the wreckage.  Stripping takes a little bit of time, but allows for (semi-random) bits and pieces to be recovered.

Some wrecks (especially the initial lifeboat the first three survivors arrive in) will be more intact than others, with working objects inside, but with limited and draining power/supplies.  These could include an auto-doc table that could heal a survivor more quickly without having a doctor tending the patient, or an intact cabin with oxygen supply and temperature management (if these become included in the game).  Because these have limited long-term usefulness, they would likely not be unbalancing overall, but would offer a temporary boon to the survivors and provide a source of components and parts for later research and construction.

Another couple of things that might be recoverable in the wrecks would be "equipment" and "wearables", objects that would help out the survivors in performing their activities.  "Equipment" would be any advanced tool to perform tasks easier or faster, like pneumatic picks, medkits, powered garden tools, hydraulic bolt cutters, etc., which would be picked up from an equipment rack and used when needed.  "Wearables" would be any variation on clothing worn by the survivors to improve their survivability, including body armor, supplemental oxygen or air filters, pest dissuasion emitters, etc.  If the combination might be too much, you could combine the two under a single "equipment" category, allowing only one at a time, and then allow the research and construction of combo-equipment, like a miner's suit (with air, light, and pneumatic pick).

Got some additional ideas flowing through me on this, but I'll stop here for the moment.  Please let me know what you think.

[Untrustedlife]

Hmm, It does make sense that survivors would do this.

It also fills in the "i'll spawn a nutrient dispenser with sparks and metal"
problem along with serveral others.

I would be for this, in part or in whole.

[Nasikabatrachus]

I very much support this general idea. In my own head, I imagine the survivors coming down in a sort of survival shuttle, something loaded with a certain amount of survival equipment and supplies that can be stripped down and rearranged into an ad-hoc shelter. (Or perhaps the escape pods themselves are what serve this function.)

I think this could serve to sharply distinguish the early game from the mid- and late-game. That is, you start out with a fancy Nutrient Paste Dispenser, but if for some reason your colonists can't find or learn how to build more, you will see your colony's "tech level" slowly degrade over the course of a game.

If a world map with various sites and visitable encounters were added ("Joe thought he saw an escape pod come down off to the West. Send a party to investigate?"), there could be a strong incentive to take risks out in the wild rather than turtle up in the limited confines of the colony.

[Untrustedlife]

I very much support this general idea. In my own head, I imagine the survivors coming down in a sort of survival shuttle, something loaded with a certain amount of survival equipment and supplies that can be stripped down and rearranged into an ad-hoc shelter. (Or perhaps the escape pods themselves are what serve this function.)

I think this could serve to sharply distinguish the early game from the mid- and late-game. That is, you start out with a fancy Nutrient Paste Dispenser, but if for some reason your colonists can't find or learn how to build more, you will see your colony's "tech level" slowly degrade over the course of a game.

If a world map with various sites and visitable encounters were added ("Joe thought he saw an escape pod come down off to the West. Send a party to investigate?"), there could be a strong incentive to take risks out in the wild rather than turtle up in the limited confines of the colony.

This my friend is a brilliant way to get tech level into the main game, besides just being weapons/machines.

I am fully in support.

(and for those newbies who don't know what the tech levels are)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pIZyKif0bFbBWten4drrm7kfSSfvBoJPgG9-ywfN8j8/pub

Tynan wrote this.

[Solanus]

Components are not likely to be both fully functional and fully supplied with power and other consumables, so colonists will need to:

• remove them from the wreck,
• return them to base camp,
• study them on a research table,
• (fix them and) assemble the full building/piece of furniture.

Colonists might be lucky enough to come across a more-or-less intact cabin section where a full object could be used as is, but seeing as that's not likely to be in an accessible or defensible position, they will be best served yanking the component out as salvage to rebuild later.  This situation is more likely to happen in the easier difficulty levels, allowing the initial colonists to rely on their lifeboat more while they get set up, but higher difficulties will make it unlikely to find more than busted components to salvage.

Depending on how much research could be undertaken, the colonists might be entirely reliant on finding (intact or broken) components to be the cores of any new constructions, or they might be able to construct them whole cloth (perhaps after a more lengthy research period).

[OobleckTheGreen]

This thread got me to thinking about all the other tech that should be conceivably available. Not only do you have your own ship degrading and falling into bits onto the planet's surface, you also have these raiders showing up. I'm thinking that my Moon Colony 1 should have about 25+ ships in lifeless orbit, since presumably the raiders had to fly there in something.

How to get at all that componentry & metal, though? I wonder if raiders should land on the planet's surface in smaller vessels. If you win against them, you can strip their ship of its component parts? Or maybe one of your settlers goes bonkers at the thought of escape and steals the ship if you don't strip it down quickly enough? Actually, I can think of all sorts of scenarios that might come up if an actual ship landed planetside...

[Untrustedlife]

This thread got me to thinking about all the other tech that should be conceivably available. Not only do you have your own ship degrading and falling into bits onto the planet's surface, you also have these raiders showing up. I'm thinking that my Moon Colony 1 should have about 25+ ships in lifeless orbit, since presumably the raiders had to fly there in something.

How to get at all that componentry & metal, though? I wonder if raiders should land on the planet's surface in smaller vessels. If you win against them, you can strip their ship of its component parts? Or maybe one of your settlers goes bonkers at the thought of escape and steals the ship if you don't strip it down quickly enough? Actually, I can think of all sorts of scenarios that might come up if an actual ship landed planetside...

The raiders don't fly in.
They live on the planet (apparently)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pIZyKif0bFbBWten4drrm7kfSSfvBoJPgG9-ywfN8j8/pub

Faster then light travel does not exist in the rimverse, and rimworlds are classified as industrial worlds. (their tech level)

RimWorld does not include:
Faster than light travel.
True aliens.

In the RimWorld universe, it takes years or decades to travel or communicate between stars. Because travel times are so long, planets tend to be disconnected from each other socially and technologically. So there are no great star empires, and interstellar travel is unusual. Each star system is mostly isolated from its neighbors.

Rimworlds - Distant and isolated planets lacking in strong central government and low in population density. These places tend to hover around the industrial level of technology or lower. Because they’re not homogenized by a central government, they tend to see a lot of interaction between people of different technology levels, as travelers crashland or ancient closed valut communities open up.

(Tynan said this)
(Its really interesting to read)
Also, you crashed their, so none of them want to stay there.

The raider thing will be more obvious once we have a randomly generated world.

[TimMartland]

This is a really good idea. Later-game, you could manufacture such components using machines!

[BattleFate]

I like the general idea behind the OP. I would like to see something like that implemented. I've heard similar ideas proposed though. I'm not sure what Tynan's stance on it was.