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With writing, there is a concept that you should be as concise as possible. Similarly, with games, you should not add complexity for complexity (or realisms) sake.

The reason meat processing works is because there are interactions and meaningful choices at every step.

You have an animal corpse. You could eat it directly. This has different benefits and penalties depending on your game state (character traits + incapabilities, your need for leather, your acceptance of a nutrition efficiency hit for speed, your mental break status).

There's less play with butchering, but there are still some choices (in NB butchering spot vs table is also relevant). Practically it provides a space optimization challenge as most high value corpses butcher to multiple stacks.

Finally with cooking you have options for nutrition efficiency/spoilage/mood. With different game states, there are different choices that are optimal. This is probably the step with the most thought involved, and it is the most interesting since unlike the rest of the steps, the solution is not often obvious.

Whether by intent or by accident, its not needless complexity.

In fact, some of the most elegant mechanics in this game are simple - like the zzt event.

You make the argument of realism and inconsistency in a fantasy abstracted world, and frankly realism is worthless without being connected to meaningful gameplay. Your examples don't lead to more meaningful choice, only more tedium.

This right here. If it doesn't add a meaningful choice to gameplay why should we bother with a tedious step? All steel ore would have to be refined for  use so why include refining? Stone chunks provide quick and useful cover aside form being a building material source.

As a hoarder, I usually have too much stuff laying around doing nothing for me. Wealth doesn't really captures my ability to fend off raids, so... the solution is to not be wealthy 

Don't be unnecessarily wealthy. If you have a freaking pile of gold laying about and no guns to defend it I would probably swipe it off you if there was no real negative to me.

Maybe wealth in conjunction with defenses, but defenses might even be a deterrent. Because of the huge negative to raiding somewhere with high wealth, but death incarnate defenses. Noone wants to die, but them wanting your crap is completely reasonable. Maybe once you have x amount of defense and y amount of wealth you only get uber powered raids desperately trying to overcome your walls.

"Hey Bob want to go raid that outpost?"
"Nah man they don't have anything worth risking my neck for. I hear they have to eat people just to make ends meet."
"What about that one?"
"Are you kidding me? They have enough firepower to turn us into putty! Remember last time, Frank was vaporized as soon as he got in range. I still remember his arms going one way and his legs the other. Don't even ask where his head went."
"Okay... What about that art convent over there? I hear they have been working in Gold recently."
....
"Now Jim that right there is my speed. Bring up places like that more often."

Storyteller: Randy Random
Difficulty: Rough
Biome/hilliness: Caravaning. Forest, Desert, Boreal Forest etc.
Commitment mode: Sorta scummy, Tribal Start
Current colony age (days): It's dead (See wealth graph below)
Hours played in the last 2 days: 6-8?
Complete mod list: Core.

Spent 4 in game years caravanning. Setup a base for a year, Travel for a season, etc. My goal was to make it to the crashed ship, which was unfortunately in an extreme desert. Didn't quite make it...

Anyway. The core game feels really good now. Used to need Combat extended to make the guns feel powerful. Much better on that front. Still immersion breaking that tribes can get all the guns they need in one year yet tribal raids don't really have any.

Minor issues:
Table debuff. Still don't get it after all this time considering you can't put tables everywhere.
   
Can't specify food consumption during caravans. Should be able to ration food to stretch it out by a bit (This actually killed me as my pack animals consumed all my rations very rapidly leading to a starvation spiral).

Major Issues
Wools seem pointless in the current system. They don't provide much heat/cold and have terrible protection. It's so bad that my tribesmen preferred old leather tribal wear over new button down shirts and pants. This only changed once I had flak pants and leather shirts.

Enemy bases sometimes seem incredibly ill-prepared for the climate they are in. For instance you would expect that an outpost ina hostile environment would be kitted to actually reasonably live there. The fortifications are pretty nice, but their living zones are pretty terrible. For example, a faction I attacked in a rather inhospitable desert only had unrefrigerated simple meals and no crops. Like what? How are they living there? Bit of an immersion breaker.

Potential Exploits:
Heaters and other furniture can be used to transport large quantities of material cheaply. Heaters for example weigh 6kg, but can be broken down into near 40 steel which would take up 20kg normally. This makes it really easy to bring enough mats along to start up. Sure there's waste, but if you are traveling waste like that is inconsequential.

Also sieges seem to give up way too easily once you have a mortar. Get one good hit and they charge your fort. Sometimes they didn't even get their mortars set before they would charge.


[attachment deleted due to age]

Starvation, on the road, in a desert, trying to attack a pirate base for some food, with alpacas. Long form to come to the stories section later.

Who needs legs amirite.

No legs for you!

Crawl!

Hello, putting aside the fact that allies drop in terribly small numbers, could they please take care to not land on my items, or make their pods not do damage? Pic somewhat related, they landed on antigrains. Ally in drop pod was unharmed, pod did not open until after explosion.

That is flipping hilarious. Also to everyone complaining about insects not freezing to death I present this gem: https://phys.org/news/2013-05-dont-beetles-winter.html


In nature it is actually quite common for some species to be able to freeze and thaw with little to no ill effects. That being said they will be quite slow to unable to move when that cold.

I love how you actually used an alpha sign and yes this was in previous versions.

thou you would really just become another out lander union, and then you gotta ask the question why not join one of the out lander unions?  I mean why are there multiple out lander factions? whats so different about them that they do not just coalesce into one group?

People have had family destroying fights over which way the tp is supposed to roll and you question why there would be multiple similar factions on one planet?

This would combine nicely with certain personality traits, for example:

"self-centered: thinks every job is done amazingly even if they do a bad job"
"perfectionist: most jobs are seen as bad, even if they are okay. is only happy if they do an impeccable job."

Self centered: Global learning speed halved.
Perfectionist: Global Learning speed doubled.

Otherwise good idea a little boost if they do a good job. For example your passionate, but otherwise idiotic, tribal researcher discovers electricity. He made the breakthrough and gets a big mood buff. "YAY!!! I have something publishable!"

This could be cheesed though so you should only get a buff if you enjoy the job itself to prevent people using it like beer.

Batteries are installable and last just under 3 days powering 1 turret. Plenty of time for a bombardment to really get going.

It should be a hidden feature.

The original idea + leader dynamics for each=Less Empire more Confederation, which in terms of lore makes sense.

Occasional leader deaths could shake up your power structure and turn once productive colonies into leeches on the system and vice versa. Establish your own trade networks, build stronger relations and form armies to crush out the pirates.

(Note you still have to leave your pretty base, sorry to much strain methinks to actually have the pawns running around in the tile)

HERESY ABOVE!!!! HERESY!

I instead say that walls may not join at any T junction leaving a small gap that leaks no temperature, but still allows my colonists to whack people!

So it has been said. So shall it be.

It would be great to know if the person escaping pirates will be entering by walking, or by drop pod.

Right now it's just  a rage worthy moment of pain. Like, "You are not worth an Urban Fighting scenario, go back and die. Have your toes cut off one by one. I don't care. Just don't rain death up in here."

I think we all know the feeling. Yes it adds an element of uncertainty, yes there's the whole 'fun' aspect, but it's just really annoying that the message offers no indication that they will be arriving by drop pod, as opposed to walking.

Rooms that have frequent use of smokeleaf, flake, or other to be implemented smokeables should eventually develop a fog of smoke that will slightly increase the resistance of any in the room to some degree. Ventilation should help to some degree and an extremely low addiction chance rolled upon entering.

Additionally Teetotalers should be averse to staying in such rooms despite any level of excellence. "Ugh it's a drug den in here!" -10 expires in 6 hours