I started theorycrafting a bunch of ideas that I thought sounded neat and might like to see in the game. Most of it adding depth, and gosh do I like depth. I'll try to keep this organized. Some of these may be good ideas, some may be horrible. I'd like to hear you voice your opinions.
Disclaimers:
I played this game for about five hours at the time of this post. Some of these things may or may not already be in the game that I just never stumbled upon. I have not finished the game.
I have not looked up each of my suggestions, so I'm sure at least some of them have been posted to some degree already.
Tools
The idea is, a person has to be holding a tool to do various labor jobs. You could have hoes (for planting), pickaxes (for mining), brooms (for cleaning), etc. Things like planting could still be do-able with your bare hands, but might be more efficient to do with a hoe. Other tasks that don't require tools, of course, could be done without them. You would probably land with some of them (at least a pickaxe) and be able to craft (or trade) for more.
Dual-wielding (sort of)
Mostly to go with the above suggestion, everyone would be able to hold two items. If someone has two items, one would be unused (think, strapped to your back or in your pocket if small enough) and the person could switch between them. Switching would likely take a couple seconds for balance sake. This would allow you to hold a tool and a gun so you can do your job and conveniently switch between the two in case of a raid. There /could/ also be a one-handed and two-handed system so someone could take advantage and use two pistols at once or something.
Transformers
Not the big stompy mechs, but voltage transformers. The idea here is having transformers that limit the amount of energy going through and (at least?) two types of wiring, the usual cheap one and a more expensive one that can more safely transfer large amounts of electricity at a higher cost. Using a transformer into cheaper wiring would heavily reduce the chance of an explosion.
Diplomacy
I'm sure this one has been brought up already, but I'd like to be able to solve 'raids' diplomatically. I can think of a few ways.
Convincing the enemy you don't have anything to steal.
Elements like them seeing defenses and what your base is constructed of could reduce the chances.
Convincing that you would be better as an ally than an enemy.
More loss of life during a raid (divided by amount of times raided) in the past could reduce the chances.
Using fear tactics to scare them off.
The opposite of the first one. Better visible defenses and structure materials could increase the chances (with diminishing returns, I assume).
Diplomacy could probably be accomplished by having someone (preferrably with a higher social rating) man a specific console and have a few speakers outside (with the enemy needing to be in range of a speaker).
Recruiting
Instead of being forced to do the morally subjective actions of capturing or buying your colonists, why not simply make it so you're able to ask friendlies to join you? The chance of recruitment would probably be affected by the recruiter's social level, the size of a group they're with (if any), and the recruitee's current mood (giving more incentive to have a nice, clean, spacious base). Of course, you probably shouldn't be allowed to ask more than once.
Other/Complaints
I think it's really silly that, when an animal becomes enraged, they charge directly for your front door regardless where they are and try to break in to attack you. Why not have it wander around outside and start engaging anything it has vision of, like is implied by the tooltip.
Trees. The tops of them shouldn't be burried under my wall that's behind it.
Let me be able to start building a wall without selecting metal again if metal is already selected.
I was expecting to have a bigger thread than this. I'll update the topic if I think of/remember any more or am convinced that my ideas are stupid.
Disclaimers:
I played this game for about five hours at the time of this post. Some of these things may or may not already be in the game that I just never stumbled upon. I have not finished the game.
I have not looked up each of my suggestions, so I'm sure at least some of them have been posted to some degree already.
Tools
The idea is, a person has to be holding a tool to do various labor jobs. You could have hoes (for planting), pickaxes (for mining), brooms (for cleaning), etc. Things like planting could still be do-able with your bare hands, but might be more efficient to do with a hoe. Other tasks that don't require tools, of course, could be done without them. You would probably land with some of them (at least a pickaxe) and be able to craft (or trade) for more.
Dual-wielding (sort of)
Mostly to go with the above suggestion, everyone would be able to hold two items. If someone has two items, one would be unused (think, strapped to your back or in your pocket if small enough) and the person could switch between them. Switching would likely take a couple seconds for balance sake. This would allow you to hold a tool and a gun so you can do your job and conveniently switch between the two in case of a raid. There /could/ also be a one-handed and two-handed system so someone could take advantage and use two pistols at once or something.
Transformers
Not the big stompy mechs, but voltage transformers. The idea here is having transformers that limit the amount of energy going through and (at least?) two types of wiring, the usual cheap one and a more expensive one that can more safely transfer large amounts of electricity at a higher cost. Using a transformer into cheaper wiring would heavily reduce the chance of an explosion.
Diplomacy
I'm sure this one has been brought up already, but I'd like to be able to solve 'raids' diplomatically. I can think of a few ways.
Convincing the enemy you don't have anything to steal.
Elements like them seeing defenses and what your base is constructed of could reduce the chances.
Convincing that you would be better as an ally than an enemy.
More loss of life during a raid (divided by amount of times raided) in the past could reduce the chances.
Using fear tactics to scare them off.
The opposite of the first one. Better visible defenses and structure materials could increase the chances (with diminishing returns, I assume).
Diplomacy could probably be accomplished by having someone (preferrably with a higher social rating) man a specific console and have a few speakers outside (with the enemy needing to be in range of a speaker).
Recruiting
Instead of being forced to do the morally subjective actions of capturing or buying your colonists, why not simply make it so you're able to ask friendlies to join you? The chance of recruitment would probably be affected by the recruiter's social level, the size of a group they're with (if any), and the recruitee's current mood (giving more incentive to have a nice, clean, spacious base). Of course, you probably shouldn't be allowed to ask more than once.
Other/Complaints
I think it's really silly that, when an animal becomes enraged, they charge directly for your front door regardless where they are and try to break in to attack you. Why not have it wander around outside and start engaging anything it has vision of, like is implied by the tooltip.
Trees. The tops of them shouldn't be burried under my wall that's behind it.
Let me be able to start building a wall without selecting metal again if metal is already selected.
I was expecting to have a bigger thread than this. I'll update the topic if I think of/remember any more or am convinced that my ideas are stupid.