Gameplay issue and suggestion to solve it

[Mouvitz]

Hi,

I'm sure that different parts of my suggestion have been addressed previously but I haven't seen the general problem I'm about to describe mentioned much. It has to do with the premise for all the stories that emerge in this gem of a game, which is -as we all know- the destruction of some sort of passenger ship, and three survivors landing in escape pods. This is all very real and clear at the beginning of a game, but I feel that the sense of urgency and drama this setting provides is too quickly washed away as you play. Here you are, stranded in the desert and in the middle of nowhere, but before nightfall you're building high tech devices like solar panels, and structures such as jails to imprison and recruit enemy raiders. Within a week or two you're living in a nice room with carpets etc. At this point the only urgency is that of raider attacks, as you come to defend some sort of military base.

This can be dealt with by smoothing out and lengthening the technological curve especially in the early game. My suggestion is to add for example stone as a basic resource (we're already chipping away at all that rock), allowing you to construct makeshift shelters with stone walls. These walls can be reinforced with simple plating using scrap metal in order to better serve as cover against the first raiders. This approach suits the western theme and that of having very different levels of technology at the same time. Using the research table you can then unlock the manufacturing facilities/machines (a simple welding device) required to construct the more time consuming metal walls with built-in electricity that we have now. To keep construction smooth, walls could be 'upgradeable'. There may be better ways of solving this problem, but mine just shows that it could be done relatively quick in relation to the depth and gameplay improvements it would incorporate. The more porous stone walls may also be fitting to better simulate cave-ins.

I've also experienced a second tier of the problem, usually more in the later game. This of course has to do with the game being at this early stage, but that is no reason not to mention it. Between trade ships passing and people wandering by like if there's a town nearby, I again lose the sense that my colonists are shipwrecked and there involuntarily. I realize the trade ships are not interstellar like the one that crashed, but if I pay them tens of thousands of dollars I have laying around the colony, surely they would give my guys a ride to the nearest bar?

This one I have no simple solution for, but maybe with the introduction of modules such as Archaeology that make the place where they happened to crash much more interesting, the colonists may not want to escape after a while. One idea that popped up in my mind is to have different premises for a New Game. Maybe you don't choose the 'Crashlanding escapepods'-beginning, maybe you go with the 'Refugees/Criminals escaping off the grid to conduct controversial research', or the 'Escaping the law/a nemesis'-beginning...

Thoughts on this?

[Galileus]

So, basically you propose there should be more stuff, so that game is longer. Yeaaaah... It's a pre-alpha, ye know? There will be more stuff!

As for second part of your post - there was at least half a dozen threads discussing that topic. Basically, trade ship are small, journeys are long, colonists have nothing to come back to, and traders are not likely to pick up a dozen random and armed men on a road trip.

[Mouvitz]

So, basically you propose there should be more stuff, so that game is longer. Yeaaaah... It's a pre-alpha, ye know? There will be more stuff!

As for second part of your post - there was at least half a dozen threads discussing that topic. Basically, trade ship are small, journeys are long, colonists have nothing to come back to, and traders are not likely to pick up a dozen random and armed men on a road trip.

Well, for the first part, I just feel that this is something I would be happy to see developed in the near future because to my mind it is the one flaw (if you can call it that) that really stands out in what is otherwise a remarkably polished pre-alpha. And yes, I'm a little impatient, but it is out of enthusiasm for the game. I don't need new guns, furnaces, biomes or robots as soon as possible though, even if I'd like some yellow carpet  .

For the second part, I'm just brainstorming. The fictional solutions to the problem that you list will have to serve as motivation for my colonists for now. Thanks for summarizing.

[Workload]

I Do like the idea of being Criminals or just peaceful colonist. Could put into affect of who/what attacks you example police. Criminal wouldn't care if you sell slaves and what not