So here I am, playing the current version of the pre-alpha, and having a grand old time. I was thinking that to give colonists something to do we should have expeditions.
Expeditions would be an off-game map scenario where the player could send his colonists to retrieve resources, weapons, etc. It would begin by finding coordinates from travelers, raiders or traders and the player would organize a party with food metal and weapons to make sure they are well prepared to handle the frontier. The difficulty can change based on the reward, and the story teller can create accidents on the expedition to cause injury or death. It can also choose to give the player a good reward or not based on the reliability of the expedition. If anyone is familiar with the game Anno 2070 there was a similar idea where the player loaded up the ships with coordinates and resources, and the more they gave the better the result allowing players to get items they may not normally be able to get.
I think it would be a great idea! I have had the same sort of experience in Anno 2070, only in Anno there doesn't seem to be as much threat as there should be. I think this concept could be good for Rim World though. :P
Actually though about the same thing with the same inspiration (except it was earlier Anno). Allow me to throw in my few ideas. Or don't gonna do it anyway :P
- Expeditions can vary widely in target and time - but as for time, they should be relatively long to make it impossible to spam them and to give them the feeling of grandeur.
- There should be no pop-ups about things happening during expeditions - maybe allow them on easier difficulties, but on harder ones you would not see a timer for return nor any info what to expect when they show up (if they ever do). This will keep players on toes and have them guessing if that delay is the end of their Indiana Jonas or just some minor difficulties.
- Targets of expeditions: scavenge missions (resources and/or items), recruitment (people), scout (chance to get timer on next land-based raiders attack or even hurt them a bit), exploration (random rewards or events)
- Allow for Star-Trek like feeling of exploration - expect a good pool of unexpected. Aside from typical rewards for exploration (items / resources / people / research boost) there should be special events or even few unique items (new plants, ancient weapons (think Stargate), artefacts with or without a practical purpose (a.k.a. furniture) ((damn) there's a lot of parentheses here!))
If the colonists going on expedition don't get a red shirt we will miss a HUGE change for some (nervous) laughs.
Hmm well I don't think it makes sense to have no info on what's going on in the expedition. At least after a while. Maybe have it be like that earlier on but then have a later-down-the-road research like "Handheld Communicators" that gives you a status window about the expedition. I think it could also work with random events that makes pass/fail "checks" based on how much you sent. Examples:
"Your expedition passes a group of starving refugees. [check based how much food you sent, either:] PASS: Your men give them a portion of their spare rations and one of the refugees volunteers to help out with the expedition (gain a man), or FAIL: The refugees produce a number of small weapons and fire on your expedition with plans to take the food by force! [now a check based on how much firepower and shooting skill your expeditionaries have] This results in X (0-25% of the expedition, depending on skill) casualties and taking (0-1) prisoners (who return to the colony as prisoners).
I think a large amount of options and checks with each event will ensure that no two events are exactly alike. I also think that even if you fail a check, sometimes you should be able to get something out of it like the above. Even if you fail it's possible to take no casualties and even get a prisoner out of the deal.
Or loose everything ;)
Man, I love tying the status window to research! So simple, yet so beautiful. It actually addresses the "problem" and changes it to a game mechanic. Absolute must-have!
I think the timer should be there for expeditions but it doesn't say when they are getting back, just when they should of been back. At that point you could setup a new expedition but a new type would be available, search and rescue. Several different things could have happened to your expedition, they could be found dead (you are told what cause of death could of been or what could of happened based on what is found there IE dead bandits or wounded or dead creatures), your rescue op finds a bandit camp or fort where it looks like they could of been taken, they are simply gone, or they are found on their way home or lost.
If they track your expedition to a small bandit camp where they have been taken hostage, you are given the estimated raider and prisoner count divided into your colonists by name and then the number of prisoners you don't know. You then get a choice to either send for more people from your colony (risks the people who will stay and keep and eye on the raiders) or attack with your force. Sending for more people takes less time then the tracking the first party and even less time then the first expedition because the people would know where to go and the people tracking the raiders would send someone back to the camp to let the new people know where to go. If the raiders take the hostages to their fort if enough time passes some may be killed or sold to slavers where you could possibly buy them back (from the comm station)
If they find a fort you get the same options but intel is less precise and there are more raiders and defenses then a simple camp.
Tynan posted in a similar thread and I think his idea for how something like this should play out is good.
Quote from: Tynan on November 22, 2013, 02:43:25 AM
Quote from: Nasikabatrachus on November 21, 2013, 05:57:38 PM
Tynan has also stated that his preferred solution to the tower-defense/holing up problem, of which the "built-up invincible fort" is a subset, is to have raiders start using siege tactics and long-range fire, so that should change things up quite a bit if/when that is put in. It's a good solution within the limits he's working with, I think.
Yes, you'll have to go out and attack the raiders instead of waiting for them to come for you.
As for leaving the map, yeah, the original post still applies. Much more likely, however, is sending colonists on quests to do something off-map. You wouldn't direct them while they're gone, but they would go and do something and return with some result based on their skills, equipment, and the situation.
Also, thinking about this more, it occurs to me that there may be a solution. You could send colonists on a quest. They leave. Several days pass. Partway through that, we freeze the colony map and go to a new map where your questing colonists are attacking a fort or something. You play that out to resolution. Then you go back to the colony map and continue playing until the colonists return and arrive. This solves the double-time problem. It's reasonably feasible. However, when people can't even cook food yet, it's a rather low priority :).
I think that specific points of interest like natural wonders, the bulk of your crashed ship, towns/villages, or raider forts should be able to be revisited. In the case of towns if you were both peaceful then it is to trade and no tactical battle is needed. Wonders could be to increase the research value of scientists or make colonists happy with a resource that is found there or simply making the ones that go visit extremely happy. Raider forts have the potential for a new raider gang to move in, and a tactical battle could take place (you get the same options as stumbling on a camp to send for help or attack with what you have).
I'm still against timer per-se, it just seems odd. "Hey guys, we're going to explore that stuff over there behind that mountain, we will be back in 78 hours, 31 minutes and 2 seconds!" ;) But it's not impossible to have the cake and eat the cake, I believe. Just replace timer with "Estimated expedition return: 2-3 days", then going to "Expedition return overdue by 2 days". Having an "overdue" status would let you send CSAR missions out. This also gives you an awesome choice - do you want to risk even more colonists to try and rescue your favourites?
Then again there all these options with better research down the road. It doesn't need to be as vague anymore - you can pick up a S.O.S. when your team gets into range of communications, or maybe their broadcast is suddenly interrupted by sounds of gunshots. Maybe they ask for help, because they run out of supplies or they are injured and may not make it back on their own? Maybe it's a ransom demand? And then - what kind of team do you want to go? Special tactics, combat, non-military recovery?
It would synergize absolutely amazingly with Tynan's vision. Oh, these assaults of ranged raiders, can't you imagine what a joy it would be to have X'th event like that? You can't, there is no to be had at some point, and there needs to be more instances of off-map missions if it is to be viable. And there we go - now you actually care more than just in "get the hell off of my lawn!" kind of way. Now it's your guys who went on the mission, and from time to time there will be someone you really want to have back!
Quote from: Galileus on November 22, 2013, 12:52:04 PM
I'm still against timer per-se, it just seems odd. "Hey guys, we're going to explore that stuff over there behind that mountain, we will be back in 78 hours, 31 minutes and 2 seconds!" ;) But it's not impossible to have the cake and eat the cake, I believe. Just replace timer with "Estimated expedition return: 2-3 days", then going to "Expedition return overdue by 2 days".
Sorry that's what I ment
Yeah, I like Tynan's approach. I definitely think some kind of relationship system can work great here, if your two best guns hate each other and you send them out to take out a raider camp than there is a chance one of them murders the other on the way back and blames it on raiders. Which can lead to other issues if the other colonist here's about it. Also, a happiness penalty if two colonists are in a relationship and you send out their loved one to the quest. (I don't know how to quote from one thread to another... I basically said all this in the other thread)
I quote from another thread by quoting it in that thread and copying it into a message into the other thread.
i had a similar idea but with vehicles :D
Quote from: Evul on November 22, 2013, 05:02:49 PM
i had a similar idea but with vehicles :D
Vehicles would work too, they'd increase the speed but make them more noticeable. Higher risk but for more ground coverage. I'd assume for rescue ops they wouldn't drive the car into the camp, but get out to not get noticed.
I saw a suggestion that adds to this one. The person was asking for hidden treasure but I think that it would work better as an expedition instead of something you find on your map. A rare drop from raiders leaves you with a map with a point of interest, whether it is their camp or fort, treasure, another colony like yours, a vehicle, or even a shuttle.
Lol same suggestion/issue as mine a while ago