So I'm loving Rimworld, but I find it a little repetitive. I know that it's just in Alpha and has a lot of features that aren't in the game yet, but I figured I'd post some of the ideas I had for new AI storytellers that I'd like to play with.
The following have more unique and interesting personalities then the ones currently in game. I think most of them would be a little harder to program then the ones in game as they'd need new code parameters, but I tried to "design" ones that I think would still be possible without taking up too much of Tynan's time and would be worth the effort.
Note: I'm pretty easy going with my thoughts and ideas. Look at the big picture when considering them, their names and most of the specifics about them are just there to get the idea across. I'd be totally happy for them to be completely redesigned.
Haldor the Warmonger:
With this storyteller you'll get a lot of raids against you, but also a strong mix of positive effects that give you new characters (migrants, escape pod chashes, etc.). Basically he focuses on giving your colony a lot of interesting evenly matched large-scale battles.
Drusilla the Tormentor:
Drusilla generally treats players very badly, but there's a catch. If they player only has 1 active character (ie: not incapacitated) nothing bad will happen. He/she can't have a mental break and whatever hostile enemies there are will flee. It doesn't matter if it's a lone psychotic squirrel or a dozen mechanoids.
As such, players can have a match where they don't have to be afraid of actually losing their colony, but will fairly constantly have their base torn apart and most of their characters killed. ;D
Cut-Throat Carrie:
This AI storyteller changes the behavior of raiders so that they'll never leave the map. They'll fight you till they die.
Maev, Nature's Wrath:
This one would have little or no raiders, instead there'd be a lot of "natural" negative events that would hinder you, but wouldn't directly threaten the survival of your fortress. You'll be seeing a lot of blights, lightning strikes with long gaps before rain, psychotic animals, solar flares, etc.
If Tynan adds more negative effects like sandstorms, meteor strikes, earthquakes, etc. they'd play a pretty important role for Maev.
Sea-saw Sven:
Sven switches between short "eras" of positive and negative effects. A timeline of a colony would look something like this:
15 days of utopia, to get players started.
3 days of terror.
7 days of generally positive events.
3 days of terror.
7 days of generally positive events.
etc.
A player would need to use the "good times" to specifically prepare for the difficult periods where their survival is at stake.
Stalwart Sadie:
Sadie starts your colony with 5 characters and extra free resources, but never gives you "free" characters through events. You'll have to buy slaves or capture raiders to get your numbers up.
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Some more ridiculous storytellers:
Anarchistic Ivan:
This story teller would give you a lot of characters through events (migrants, etc.), but the loyalty threshold on characters would be more severe, and players that drop below it would spontaneously turn into raiders.
Mutiny is fun.
Ragnarok Roy:
When you start the game your colony will get a random, hidden "end date". I'm thinking it'd be between 100 and 200 days from the start.
When you hit the date, a special event would take place. It'd say something along the lines of: "The Sun and all the stars have darkened and turned a deep shade of red. Could Armageddon be upon us?"
The entire map would turn a dark shade of red, and strong negative events will take place every single day. The player's relations with the other factions will also steadily drop.
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What sort of AI storytellers would you like to see?
Loving some of the names, I must say. I am a sucker for added alliterative appeal (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AddedAlliterativeAppeal).
All this is good, but I'll also like an actually Custom Storyteller, where we can fiddle with their decision making values. So maybe I want to make a Custom Cassie, for example, but "with a wee bit more raiders but less psychotic animals. Oh and probably throw in the flag that raiders never flee. Trader probabilities...meh, keep as is. Resource pods...hmm, less food more metal, I guess. Eclipses...medium rare. Solar flares...f*k no."
The current Storytellers could be the preset ones, with preset values. We can then make our own Storytellers based on them, or a completely new one from scratch. Would be awesome if we can have an export/import feature on that as well, so we can share Storytellers.
Karma Kristine
She's Randy's older sister, and may be related Sven (above). She dishes out events based on your karma... at first. Do you help out other factions? (I assume this will be implemented eventually.) She'll treat you nicer. Do you execute prisoners? That's a no-no in her books. Overwork your colonists? Uh oh. Shower them with dandelions and clean floors? Yay! The catch is that after getting enough blessings, she'll go berserk on you with negative event combos until you've learned your place. ;D