Hi fellow RimWorlders!
I propose the following challenge to all of you. The challenge is, simply, to survive by any means possible. You'll start out with a single predetermined pawn, Engie, who has amazing traits and great stats. You'll get the same resources you'd receive in a 'The Rich Explorer' scenario, but no pet. I can't wait to hear your stories, good luck.
Challenge Save File: http://bit.ly/2iH2lye
Intro Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJm7oMm4ZFo
Save Game folder location: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\LocalLow\Ludeon Studios\RimWorld by Ludeon Studios
*Note that your drive letter may be different on your computer and the UserName will most certainly be different.
Good luck!!
EDIT
YEEEHAW! I've blasted off into space on a ship I've constructed. My Sea Ice Community Challenge is now over. It took 249 days of living on an Sea Ice, but , alas, my efforts in this challenge have come to a close. Here's the entire Let's Play.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHqSuWJSw8SBSI3wQDmg3C4LBoYWAOh0o
I like this idea!
Could there be a hardcore mode where you have to survive on an ice sheet where the average temperature is -90C or lower (aka at the poles of a planet with the lowest temperature setting)?
At that point it would be more about how long you could survive, and i doubt the highest score would be more than a season or two.
I've already survived in episode one of my attempt at Sea Ice Community Challenge for more than a season (19 days) and it's -174F out (-114C).
Here's that episode if you're interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kV4PHuKl2A
nice self advertising bro :P
i might try this,i didnt know you could settle on the sea ice biome.
Yeah, it's totally a unique challenge, that's for sure.
This is my kind of game!
Run 1: Completely overestimated how long I could survive -122F temps. Dead before I finished the first room.
Run 2 is looking much better. I've got sustainable energy and heat, and I might be able to finish Hydroponics in time. Unfortunately, I wasted too many of my building resources. Starting over!
Run 3:
Day 1: I had to sleep in the same room as an open campfire to keep hypothermia from taking my fingers. How bad could it possibly be?
Day 2: My zero in research is showing, as I struggle with the "hydropponics for dummies" book. It might take me a few weeks, but I got this.
Day 6: A new person showed up. Her name is Jade. She has a nice parka, an appropriate hat, and she's going to eat my dwindling food supplies. ..I mean she's going to help me research hydroponics!
Day 6, ten minutes later: Jade thought it'd be fun to dance around in the nude, At least she was a big girl, and will keep me fed a while. Plus hey! Free hat!
Day 7: A girl named Kit called out for help. She's being chased by some pirates. I'd LOVE to help her out! 14 in medicine, 13 in research. She seems like she'd be a real superstar addition to my team! However, there is a very important test she must pass before I allow her into my little bungalow. I give her a knife and let her fight off the pirate. If she wins, she gets a sleeping spot next to mine.
Day 7, ten minutes later: Kit manages to kill her pursuer, but succumbs to hypothermia seconds later. Gotta do SOMETHING with these corpses!
Day 9: Solar Eclipse. Oh balls. There goes the last of my wood. Better build a battery to prevent this from happening again.
Day 9: An escape pod lands near me! Unfortunately, I'm far too busy to go out and save him. Maybe he'll come by later?
Day 10: Eclipse ends, and I manage to salvage exactly 20 wood. If I get a solar flare, I'll be able to make another campfire. Hydroponics progress 232/700. I wish Kit and Jade didn't die tragically.
Day 11: I caught the plague. Better get some rest!
Day 12: As I try to amputate my whole body (the place the plague is located) I can't help but feel the slightest tinge of regret, that maybe I should not have forced Kit to go through her entrance exam.
Ded'd by plague.
You may interest to do this
Quote- solo, tribe, flash storm, toxic fallout, cold snap, Eclipse, Volcanic winter, Flat terrain, very cold region.
I tried this and it was okay except that I couldn't start in winter on ice sheet, A14, before. You may be able to do this on sea ice. I think it may be doable because Tyran added caravan system allowing players to access resources from nearby regions.
Your video is pretty good. I think you can improve your home such as not using door (yeah, not using door, I am not sure if it is still possible in A16) or corner, use a bed due to sleeping factor, not stating your home at the center of the map (It is not useful on dangerous regions) or stopping using normal base designs which most players always do to be able to survive in more dangerous enviroment.
If you try my scenario, you may restart your colony at least 2-3 times for sure ::)
Run 4: I caught early frostbite setting up my house, it became infected. Dead by infection on day 3.
Run 5: First settler that joins is Engie's husband. Great. A permanent -25 mood. Just what i needed.
A spaceship chunk drops, allowing me to build a third heater. I now have two turbines, a battery, and three heaters, which is enough to keep hypothermia from killing me indefinitely. Now I only need to worry about food.
A thrumbo came along and froze, giving me another 35 meals. Worth!
Fibrous mechanites came about, bringing Engie down to extreme break risk levels. Nice. These mechanites' increased tiredness kept tapping out her ability to cook food, and I only managed to cook about half the thrumbo meat before the campfire expired.
...Then a solar flare hit. Put on a parka and a tuque, but it's no use. Inside hits -200F and Engie expires before the flare ends.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/f73a11f3bd334a399c86a7e59562c8e4.png)
Quote from: Pathing on December 30, 2016, 01:23:44 AM
You may interest to do this
Quote- solo, tribe, flash storm, toxic fallout, cold snap, Eclipse, Volcanic winter, Flat terrain, very cold region.
I tried this and it was okay except that I couldn't start in winter on ice sheet, A14, before. You may be able to do this on sea ice. I think it may be doable because Tyran added caravan system allowing players to access resources from nearby regions.
Your video is pretty good. I think you can improve your home such as not using door (yeah, not using door, I am not sure if it is still possible in A16) or corner, use a bed due to sleeping factor, not stating your home at the center of the map (It is not useful on dangerous regions) or stopping using normal base designs which most players always do to be able to survive in more dangerous enviroment.
If you try my scenario, you may restart your colony at least 2-3 times for sure ::)
Your scenario sounds interesting for sure. So far on my playthru I've survived one year, I've made mistakes but I think it's going well.
You wacky rimworld challenge guys.
Here I struggle with a too far north tundra, and you guys are surviving on sea ice.
I hope tynan makes an active volcano biome, just so I could see you glorious, suicidal bastards (I mean that in an endearing way) give it a shot.
Seriously, even if I can't do this to save my life, seeing you guys try makes my day.
Quote from: mumblemumble on December 30, 2016, 10:31:14 AM
You wacky rimworld challenge guys.
Here I struggle with a too far north tundra, and you guys are surviving on sea ice.
I hope tynan makes an active volcano biome, just so I could see you glorious, suicidal bastards (I mean that in an endearing way) give it a shot.
Seriously, even if I can't do this to save my life, seeing you guys try makes my day.
Oh man! I'm about to get to my ONE YEAR mark in my Sea Ice survival playthru. Volcanoes would be my wetdream.
Quote from: mumblemumble on December 30, 2016, 10:31:14 AM
You wacky rimworld challenge guys.
Here I struggle with a too far north tundra, and you guys are surviving on sea ice.
I hope tynan makes an active volcano biome, just so I could see you glorious, suicidal bastards (I mean that in an endearing way) give it a shot.
Seriously, even if I can't do this to save my life, seeing you guys try makes my day.
I agree with you so much! It took me five tries to survive on the equator of extremely cold planets, surviving on the poles is incredible.
And yes, a volcano biome would be SO GREAT! I'd love to build bases out of basalt and obsidian on a plain of volcanic glass, with occasional fire storms raining down like mortar shells around the base.
A lot of my survival is luck, to be honest. Once upon a time it would take me five tries to live on the equator too, but slowly you understand the nuances to the game to allow you for a more successful play thru. Hopefully you'll try out this community challenge soon!
Run 6: I get greedy, trying to make my starting room too big. I get two fail-to-constructs, and it takes the fire too long to heat. I lose two digits to frostbite and bleed out.
Run 7: First wandering join was her husband again. I decide to restart instead of fight with -25 mood again.
Run 8: Serious hypothermia gives way to two frostbites in the first room, because of a fail-to-construct. One of these becomes infected. I'm getting to think the beginning part of this challenge may be more luck than not.
Run 9: Good start. No fail to construct, don't touch serious hypothermia. I spend the whole time constructing and deconstructing graves in the house while waiting for the body temp to come back to normal (and hit 10 construction on first day. Slick). Got everything roofed and researching hydroponics. Just gotta debate whether or not I wanna call in traders just to watch 'em freeze.
Also, in your video, perhaps I saw the wrong thing, but do you have 6 in research with burning passion on Engie? On the save I have, she's 0 with no interest. Not like it matters, though. You get a lot of downtime, and the only critical tech is Hydroponics, which you get long before you can use it.
Wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
On my first attempt Engie died of hypothermia.
Second attempt I got a house set up but quickly realized I didn't spend my resources optimally and wasn't going to make it in the long run.
Third attempt I build the house with silver walls. Set up a base with one heater and one campfire. Started research on electric smelting. Spending my resources just right, I have enough steel to build the smelter to get more of that sweet, sweet steel from drop pod slag and raider weapons. A raider generously donated a wool parka just in time. As the last piece of wood in the campfire burned out, the room dropped to -100 degrees but it was survivable now that Engie had a wool parka. After much smelting, I set up a coms console and trade beacon and got a bulk goods trader fairly quickly. I bought plenty of wood and steel after selling piles of spare clothes. Started work on what would eventually become my hydroponics rooms, but then a mechanoid raid showed up. Engie managed to down both scythers, but took a charge rifle shot to the stomach and bled out on the 3rd of spring 5501.
Run 1, Day 8: hmm, this is much easier than I was led to expect. But maybe that opinion will change in 12 days when I'll run out of non-raw human corpse food...
Well, successfully survived a season! Only took two tries.
(http://i.imgur.com/ucRPxqi.png)
This new colonist is an ex husband of Engie, too! It happens way too often.
Survived many raider attacks, so there's enough food to last a while, but sanity isn't looking too great...
Also, Rhadamant, you know how in your video you had several traders within the first season? I kinda copied your strategy, but so far I haven't had one. Luck of the draw, i guess.
Run 1, Day 13: I was perhaps a bit overconfident. And bad at math. I only had 6 days worth of meals. I didn't set aside enough steel for a comms console and orbital beacon, which in retrospect was a grave error (From looking at the save files, I know that I've missed two orbital traders). Engie's husband has been dispatched to the nearest town with just enough raw human meat to avoid dying from malnutrition before arriving. I pray that he can survive long enough to return with at least 95 steel.
Run 1, Day 18: Engie's husband was ambushed by a warg. He triumphed, but bleed to death from his wounds. A new wanderer joined, but a wanderer is not steel. All hope is lost.
@Zhentar
I salute you! You've got quite well for yourself indeed. Making it considerably further than many others who have tried.
Run 1, Day 18 part 2:
Kasen: Engie, if you're so desperate for steel, why didn't you just disassemble two of these heaters? They'd give just enough steel to finish the comms console and a beacon.
Engie: Are you insanse!? It's -97C out there!
Kasen: You're wearing a muffalo wool parka.
Engie: ... Shit.
Kasen: You sent your husband on a suicide mission for no reason?
Engie:
(http://imgur.com/GnrqKoO.png)
Ah, the clarity a new day brings. (And I woke up in the middle of the night suddenly understanding a bug I noticed with my pathfinding mod)
Run 9 cont
Day 7 : Useless pawn joins with an awful tattered parka and a tuque. Hopefully I'll find a better one later.
WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING? :(
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/4f25b53a9d71437e9c9a7799b9a53f2d.png)
Wouldn't keep him even if I could. Incapable of dumb/skilled, neurotic and lazy. At least it's only -8 for father dying, instead of -20 for husband, but the fact I keep getting her relatives is unnerving.
Day 8: Thrumbo appears. It's too warm to die to hypothermia, and I'm not risking shooting it. Sad face. That horn would have been really nice.
Day 9: Escape pod, abrasive child star incapable of anything good drops. Also, wearing only synthread pants. I let him die. I'll take his pants to sell later.
Day 10: Female psychic drone. Just what she needs after seeing her father die.
Day 11: A doctor asks for help. If I accept, I'm really just going to let him die, which will tap out Engie's mood even further, but I kinda need more stuff to sell to traders. YOLO!
Doctor's got a hyperweave shirt, which Engie replaces her synthread one with. Psychic drone ends, and eclipse happens. I now have a megasloth wool parka which will allow me to survive even if a solar flare happens.
Day 13: Finish Hydroponics. Engie's research skill is up to 3! *final fantasy victory fanfare*
Day 14: Raid from two pirates. Still no trade ships, though :(
Caught a stray bullet that ended up with an infection. Game over, man!
Run 10: Early frostbite, but Engie recovers.
Day 7: An addiction counselor with 3 fine meals and otherwise miserable gear comes by. He goes for a naked dance on the ice.
First raid is a single pirate with more bad gear. I miss my megasloth parka :(
Day 8: Guy being chased by pirates! Could be a parka! I mean.. useful addition to my colony! One had a muffalo wool parka, but he escaped. Present minimum comfortable temperature: 80.9F
Day 11: Zzzt! Destroys my battery, research bench, my heater, and my comms console. Game over!
Run 11: Solid start. No fail to constructs, and I can spend a fair amount of time constructing graves in the base early.
Day 7: Rubber joins. Incapable of 7 things, one of which is dumb labor. a tattered awful cloth tuque, and a shoddy cloth parka. A truly unfortunate start.
A second wanderer joins. His cloth tuque is at least not tattered, but he's also worm food.
a THIRD wanderer joins, this one is wearing only a hat an an armor vest. What the heck, Cassandra!
Finally, a raid from the cockroachs[sic]. More useless gear. wtb wool parka :(
Day 8: Yet another wanderer joins. I think I broke RimWorld. But this one has a camelhair parka! Present minimum comfortable temperature: 80.9F. Some poor micromanagement on my part gets Engie frostbitten, but the wanderer kindly picks up the glitterworld medicine and heals her up before anything bad can come of it. Then the wanderer dies.
Day 9: A cult child is being chased by pirates. Why can I never get this many random joins in a normal game? One of the pirates has a normal megasloth wool parka. Now I can withstand up to -233, and the lowest I've seen was -225. I think I'm totally safe from the elements now. Oh yeah, and the kid died.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/5c6ff9b7e1784a9eb1f066b642dd1ea7.png)
Day 12: Solar flare. But I'm sleeping in a parka, so poo on you!
Eclipse in the same day, and I'm running a solar generator. Still immune to cold. Nyeah nyeah! Engie and parka BFF~
Day 13: Cassandra calls me out on my trash talk. Zzzt! destroys my solar generator. I need to dissassemble my heater to make another one to power the comms console.
Day 14: Engie still tired from fighting the exploding circuits, and a raid comes. three guys, one with a shotgun. Her shots are on point, though. She kills 'em without incident.
Then another wanderer joins, drops off her 3 simple meals, then hops into a grave.
Then an escape pod happens. What is this? 8 potential colonists so far?
Day 15: Yet another wanderer joins. I wish I was recording this run.
Day 16: Crashed escape pod. What is it that's so appealing about this particular chunk of the north pole that just DEMANDS people come to it?
Day 17: First ship in comms range is a pirate merchant. Go figure. Can I build walls out of mortar shells? Upside is that I have a veritable ton of silver for whenever a good merchant DOES come by. Seconds later, a raid is happening. Three guys with ranged weapons, two of which are LMGs. If stuff goes south, I can just buy one of the slaves off the pirate and have him use glitterworld medicine on Engie, then die because I sold all the warm weather clothes to buy him.
Nevermind. They all died to hypothermia en route to my summer home. More stuff for me!
Day 20: Two more escape pods, within minutes of each other.
Day 21: 76% resistant to meditative joy, and no bulk goods trader in sight. Engie burns the last of her steel to make a horseshoes pin.
Day 22: Person being chased by pirates asks for help. Business as usual. Kill 'em all, take their stuff.
Day 24: Another escape pod. I'd like to ignore these, but hyperweave clothes sell so nice.
Day 25: Two more escape pods. It's raining men! One's wearing only synthread pants, the other is totally nude. I leave them to (very slowly) rot, as Engie still hasn't finished Hydroponics research, due to all the hauling she's been doing.
Day 26: Another escape pod. This guy's in hyperweave, so he's getting farmed.
Day 28: 10 meals left. Another escape pod. Still no bulk goods trader.
Day 31: 5 meals left. Winter has come, and so has an exotic goods trader. Unfotunately, I can't eat the 7000 silver I have.
Day 32: 3 meals left. Engie's eating like a pig. Also, she caught the plague. Gonna wait it out and see if a pirate comes to sell me a slave to glitterowrld her, or if another random wanderer joins.
Day 32: Someone begs for help! Get your butt in here and heal Engie!
...No such luck. He was not dressed for the weather, and collapses before making it to the cabin.
Day 33: Dead to plague.
If I had gotten a single bulk goods trader, I'd have been able to set up a hydroponics basin and take on some of these colonists :(
Run 2, Day 19: Things are going smoothly, except for traders. Just had one pirate trader so far. 5 days until Engie has to resort to raw cannibalism.
Sola, the storyteller doesn't like it at all when you have below three pawns. At one pawn, they're 4 times more likely to pick events that increase your population. That last run is pretty crazy though.
You should try to build your hut without any conduit. No conduit, no Zzzzt.
Run 2, Day 21: Not so smooth now. Engie got frostbitten through a series of mishaps, and with no one to tend her acquired an infection. She's now a Luciferium addict, with only one other pill...
Run 12: Fall 8 - Engie catches a Pila in the kidney and bleeds out.
Run 13: fail to construct first room, frostbite, infection, death.
Run 14: Bulk goods trader on Winter 3. First one I've seen. Caught the flu on Winter 10, but beat it by wasting days in bed. Winter 14, I've got hydroponics spawning rice, and take on a second colonist. Almost finished a year, and then THIS happens.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/e709ab93fc23415285c2b6d22f78a66d.png)
I'm not entirely sure I can feed three people. I don't even have a good parka on my second guy yet. Maybe I'll kill off the other guy and Engie can get her sex on.
Run 2, Day 23: A rare Thrumbo! It runs right up in front of Engie's hut and promptly collapses from hypothermia. What luck! A valuable horn and non-human meat!
Run 2, Day 23 (3 hours later) An Engie hauling a sniper rifle! It runs right up in front of Engie's hut and promptly collapses from hypothermia. Oops. Game over.
One whole year. Woo.
-Breaking just about even on food. One more hydroponics bay should net me a gain of food.
-No energy problems at all.
-Engie's a good enough constructor that the bedroom is impressive, and the furniture is comfortable, so no mood penalty.
Goals:
-I've only had one bulk trader. A second would be nice, because I need steel, wood, and stone blocks.
-Another animal-hair parka for Engie's husband. Got the thrumbofur, just need the tailor bench.
-Another doctor. It turns out Engie's husband can't doct. if she catches the plague, the game is over.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/63245d540f6847b69164f936d3c83efd.png)
Mental note: need to plan out interaction spots better next time.
(http://imgur.com/HgttUm3.png)
edit: Here's the end of run 2
(http://imgur.com/Mh6b5SD.png)
I just had a funny thought. Why do you keep starting over when Engie dies?
Let Cassandra keep raining people on the map. Maybe one of them will survive long enough to make it to the hut, improve on it, eventually die, then the *next* visitor tries to improve on it, etc.
It'd be like "Moon" only without the mining :)
One other suggestion: if you've accumulated 7000 silver and you can't get any traders to give you anything useful for it, why not use it as a construction material? Each wall is only 100 silver. 500 silver will get you a door :)
(Even thinking about using money as a construction material is sufficient proof to me that the trade system in this game is broken...)
I've been using my silver as a construction material for my base. The wood and steel are far too precious to spend on walls.
There's a lot of other small things you can do to help out as well. Putting the heater next to the research bench interaction spot makes it 50% light level which is enough to avoid the -5 in darkness malus. Also I've learned that if you need more than one heater you've made your base too big. One more thing I've done in my latest run that I've been neglecting is to build a human leather armchair in from of the research bench. Engie doesn't seem to mind the occasional meal of human flesh as long as she gets to sit on a comfy chair made from the skins of her enemies.
One more thing, keep Engie's schedule set to joy for every time that isn't sleep so she can keep that +10 Tons o' joy mood effect on at all times.
Run 3, Day 11: What strange force compels these wanderers? A mysterious woman trekked far across the desolate ice to my doorstep. Upon arriving, she immediately stripped naked, leaving her muffalo wool parka neatly folded. She walked over to my butchery table and then stood there motionless, waiting to die. The cold rapidly overtook her. We never spoke a word. I question what machinations have brought this to me, but the lifesaving warmth of the wool is far too great a gift to deny.
Quote from: DeathWeasel on December 31, 2016, 07:43:48 PM
I've been using my silver as a construction material for my base. The wood and steel are far too precious to spend on walls.
There's a lot of other small things you can do to help out as well. Putting the heater next to the research bench interaction spot makes it 50% light level which is enough to avoid the -5 in darkness malus. Also I've learned that if you need more than one heater you've made your base too big. One more thing I've done in my latest run that I've been neglecting is to build a human leather armchair in from of the research bench. Engie doesn't seem to mind the occasional meal of human flesh as long as she gets to sit on a comfy chair made from the skins of her enemies.
One more thing, keep Engie's schedule set to joy for every time that isn't sleep so she can keep that +10 Tons o' joy mood effect on at all times.
I've tried to go the route of building in steel and then waiting for a bulk goods to come by to buy more.
Day 70: What a scumbag. Engie's a decent people, and you break up with her while trying to survive on the single most inhospitable climate imaginable?
Sharing a bed and a permanent mood boost was the only reason I kept this non-doctor around. Next passable colonist that appears is gonna replace this guy now >:(
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/11e6c73b9b034784b07c9e8d9f697859.png)
She did NOT need this in her life.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/eb2666caba6c46bb95a0e28e9b3f3e5d.png)
Day 73: Stuff just went sideways. In my zeal to kill of Flais, I accepted a call for help when I was ill prepared for it. Flais ran out to save the new person by stripping nekkid and giving the newcomer his parka and weapon, but the pusuiers were too well prepared. three personal shields proved too much and I ended up having my charge rifle, thrumbo horn, and glitterworld medicine stolen. Flais died, the newcomer got an infection, and Engie lost her foot. That ends this run :(
--
Also, this is a thing.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/e3a7d37f3fd84b7a9fd90ecb7ae1f497.png)
--
Run 15 was going well. TWO wool parkas coming my way on day 15! Unfortunately, the guy with the incendiary launcher was a crack shot. Engie does not fight well while on fire.
https://youtu.be/kWc-oJvn7ig
On my fourth attempt, I've made it to winter 5502. The colony currently consists of my initial starting room, a larger room with 6 heaters and 10 hydroponics basins, and 7 wind turbines to power it all. I had the good fortune of having some cargo pods drop in some sandstone blocks and bought some steel from a bulk goods trader to build with. As soon as I got my first hydroponics basin up I had a wanderer join and I decided to let her stay. With the second set up hands we were able to get the smelter running non stop to produce more steel. Wanderer three and four joined soon after and we got a little worried about the food income, but it seems to be fine for now. Still working through the supply of steel slag chunks, and any new steel goes toward new hydroponics basins. Defenses consist mostly of hopes and prayers and a few scattered sandbags.
There was a scary moment about a year in when Engie got shot in the lung by a scyther. She stayed in bed the whole time and got up to extreme blood loss but managed to pull through.
Things are currently looking up. The colony has enough food for the four colonists and we're hoping to get some real defenses up soon. If things go poorly and the hydroponics room burns down or something, we have a supply of 5385 human meat just in case.
Quote from: Sola on January 01, 2017, 11:30:00 AM
Run 15 was going well. TWO wool parkas coming my way on day 15! Unfortunately, the guy with the incendiary launcher was a crack shot. Engie does not fight well while on fire.
https://youtu.be/kWc-oJvn7ig
Run 3, Day 33: A raider with an incendiary launcher gets off one shot before collapsing from hypothermia. That shot nails Engie, and she struggles to extinguish herself, getting badly burned. Some of her burns get infected, dooming her.
Run 4, Day 1: I'm getting my starting routine down. Only had to burn 5 wood in my campfire!
Run 4, Day 2: Why the hell didn't I think of making a silver bed before? It fixes the awful bedroom and ugly environment debuffs, improves comfort, and speeds up resting & healing.
(http://imgur.com/XyPsB0Q.png)
edit: Run 4, Day 5: Sweet merciful sky steel! It's a bulk goods trader! Suddenly that silver bed seems a bit more wasteful, but I only need 525 steel to meet my goals and I can afford to buy 540.
I'm suddenly met with the realization: I've spent so much time worrying about having enough steel that I've made no allowances in my layout planning for actually using that steel. Hmmmm....
Summer 5502
Finally finished research of a machining table to get some more steel from all the fallen mechanoids that have been accumulating around the base. Just as Engie finished construction of the table a bulk goods trade showed up to sell the colony 1000 steel. Now that we have tons of excess steel, work begins on a few turret guns to help with defense. We also bought 2000 stone blocks to set up a perimeter wall to help funnel enemies towards the guns. Maybe now the colonists can start to feel like maybe the next mechanoid raid wont be the last.
Finally got my first hydroponics bay built. The plants die from the cold whenever Engie opens the door to walk outside. Guess I'm going to have to scrounge up the resources for an airlock...
Day 30: Engie continues to loathe her roommate, Webster. Webster is kept around only out of necessity, to tend Engie in emergencies and perform research while Engie performs real work.
(http://imgur.com/6WXgK1G.png)
Yes! I can finally ditch Webster; I'll sell her to buy Engie's lover!
(http://imgur.com/J4ksZuS.png)
Oh. Never mind.
Is it just me or do new recruits get more useless with every update?
Quote from: Sola on January 01, 2017, 11:30:00 AM
Day 70: What a scumbag. Engie's a decent people, and you break up with her while trying to survive on the single most inhospitable climate imaginable?
Sharing a bed and a permanent mood boost was the only reason I kept this non-doctor around. Next passable colonist that appears is gonna replace this guy now >:(
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/11e6c73b9b034784b07c9e8d9f697859.png)
She did NOT need this in her life.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/eb2666caba6c46bb95a0e28e9b3f3e5d.png)
Day 73: Stuff just went sideways. In my zeal to kill of Flais, I accepted a call for help when I was ill prepared for it. Flais ran out to save the new person by stripping nekkid and giving the newcomer his parka and weapon, but the pusuiers were too well prepared. three personal shields proved too much and I ended up having my charge rifle, thrumbo horn, and glitterworld medicine stolen. Flais died, the newcomer got an infection, and Engie lost her foot. That ends this run :(
--
Also, this is a thing.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/e3a7d37f3fd84b7a9fd90ecb7ae1f497.png)
--
Run 15 was going well. TWO wool parkas coming my way on day 15! Unfortunately, the guy with the incendiary launcher was a crack shot. Engie does not fight well while on fire.
https://youtu.be/kWc-oJvn7ig
Hey there! Yeah I meant to reupload the proper save file but I think the bitly linked to the wrong one. I'll get it linked correctly.
http://bit.ly/2iH2lye
Thanks. That's gonna make things MUCH easier. In that 90 day run I had, I *still* hadn't finished machining. That 0 research was quite a kick in the jibblies.
Run 16: Heck of a start. Two fail-to-constructs gets three cases of frostbite. Can't do the grave-constructing to gain constructor experience like I used to :(
Fortunately, it doesn't even matter, as infection sets in. Next game!
Run 17: a passion for research solves the joy problems I was having, and the 6 in research to start solves the science problems I was having. This should be much easier now.
Day 6: Easily the best start I've ever had in this challenge.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/2f5468800a42484ebff3ee9dc1db39a6.png)
Not only did the pirates buy her for 900 silver, but she was also wearing a shoddy muffalo wool parka. -188F cold tolerance GET!
Day 8: Guy calls for help, wearing hyperweave. I go out to lure the pirates closer to my base so I have a shorter haul trip to make. A max range survival rifle headshots engie. I check the shot chance. "Shot by pirate: 1.9%". Fortunately, new guy makes it close to base, engie rescues him, he recovers from hypothermia, heals Engie, then goes off to die.
Day 12: It's really early to gamble my remaining food on another colonist, but this one has a lot going for him. Capable of all relevant tasks, good passions, solves the "infection=death" problem, and provides a mood boost to Engie. I've made worse gambles. Welcome to the team! Unfortunately, the one shot I have at building a double bed comes up shoddy. Good job, Engie >:(
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/364dc2bddeaf4808bbb9b8fab5c66043.png)
Day 19: Out of food. I may have made a mistake, but Electric Smelting is done, which wasn't even done at the end of my best run over a year in length.
Day 22: Neurotic lover is a break risk. There is only one option. Euthanize him and eat his corpse! Engie does not approve. Like.. super-duper does not approve.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/bd1d4b357f444e879ab96c26cec1a989.png)
Day 24: Still no bulk goods trader, and Engie's been cruising the edge of extreme break for days. While I'm debating eating another human corpse, or the thrumbo corpse, Zzzt happens and destroys everything. Thus ends the saga of Engie XVI.
The first raider had tuque and the first wandered had a shoddy, but muffalo parka. Having read all the horrible stories so far, I decided to do a different thing. I got Engie to pack up an leave. There's a 6 hex patch of ice sheet about 5 days travel away (around 10 degrees warmer), 2 of the hexes with hills. So Engie packed up all remaining food (13 days), some components and medicine and set off and colonised the hilly bit. Having found a vent she walled that off and no longer as to worry about freezing.
She may still starve to death, as I could not pack wood to set up a research bench and finish hydroponics. Will let you know how this proceeds.
I'm really getting to dislike "You need a bulk goods trader to show up" becoming an integral part of winning this challenge.
Run 17: Starts well. ..Until day 10, when Engie's fiance drops out of an escape pod. Unrescuable, even if I wanted to save him, I couldn't. Bring on the mood penalty >:(
Day 11: Exotic goods trader. Not bulk, but I'll take it. They buy my glitterworld meds and sell me a normal quality bed. Gotta get the mood boosts where I can find them.
Day 14: Behind sandbags and under a roof, Engie eats two consecutive headshots from a survival rifle.
RIP Engie XVII - Cause of death, gunshot to head.
Run 18: Fail-to-construct introduces frostbite, but Engie survives it. Makes it hard to get that 4,000 constructor exp each day, though.
Day 13: Zzzt. Only kills a conduit, but damages a lot of things. This is easily the scariest thing that can be thrown at me when I have only one pawn.
Day 18: Sparkles showed up. normally my favorite colonist, but I'm simply unable to support her. Not after what I went through a few hours ago.
Day 21: Pirate merchant shows up, and I had a raid. Managed a slave sale out of it for a whopping $60, because he was in bad shape. Probably shouldn't have done it, since it'll affect my relationships with future settlers.
Day 30: Low on food, but I've got my smelt on. I'll eventually be able to sustain if I don't starve beforehand. Also, zero bulk traders thus far.
Day 35: Gettin' pretty hungry here. The slag harvesting and smelting is taking too long. I'll never get enough for an operable hydroponic farm in time. Gonna have to start eating human corpses.
Day 37: Tasty tasty raw cannibalism!
Day 38: Replacing wood walls with silver walls, so I can at least butcher and cook the humans I dig up.
Day 40: Metal Break - Hide in room. It turns out Engie is not much a fan of butchering humans. Still no bulk trader.
Day 44: Catharsis wears off, and Engie hides in room again. Reeeeeally really need a bulk trader. like.. a season ago.
Day 46: A Thrumbo appears! This should allow me to stave off the cannibalistic urges for at least a little while.
Day 51: About time! Time to buy all the wood, steel, and meals they have.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/4dd4c93278a9413793467cecc949b126.png)
How'd you get enough steel to have a smelter going by day 35? Lucky ship chunk drops?
What are you doing with graves that is prevented by fail-to-constructs?
And agreed on the orbital bulk goods trader. On average, there's only one per year, which can mean a long, long time to wait for enough steel to do anything significant.
Quote from: Zhentar on January 02, 2017, 03:26:29 PM
How'd you get enough steel to have a smelter going by day 35? Lucky ship chunk drops?
This time, yes. I think it was two drops, one at 3, one at 4. My components are through the roof. Not that it mattered, though. The sheer amount of steel required for the heaters, batteries, power generators, and the basins themselves make it negligible in comparison to the first bulk trader you need to get 'em going.
Quote from: Zhentar on January 02, 2017, 03:26:29 PMWhat are you doing with graves that is prevented by fail-to-constructs?
Nothing. If I'm mentioning fail-to-construct, it's on the first building only. It causes hypothermia to go to serious level, which eats up a veritable ton of time.
I make graves during the waking hours to increase constructor level, so when the bulk trader DOES come, I have a better chance of comfortable furniture.
Quote from: Zhentar on January 02, 2017, 03:26:29 PMAnd agreed on the orbital bulk goods trader. On average, there's only one per year, which can mean a long, long time to wait for enough steel to do anything significant.
I know, right? This bulk trader was crap, too. only 950ish steel and 1300ish wood. No stone blocks to pretty up the room, make speedy walkways around the base, or to make ZZZT-proof walls with. But seriously, I can't complain. It allowed me to actually set up the hydro-basin and start to actually sustain.
Quote from: Zhentar on January 02, 2017, 03:26:29 PM
How'd you get enough steel to have a smelter going by day 35? Lucky ship chunk drops?
There's enough steel at the start to have a smelter as soon as you research it with no drops. If you spend your steel on a wind turbine, battery, one heater, and a wooden research table you have 210 steel left which is more than enough.
Quote from: Sola on January 02, 2017, 03:12:01 PM
I'm really getting to dislike "You need a bulk goods trader to show up" becoming an integral part of winning this challenge.
I didn't even bother building a comms console for the first two years in my game. You get enough steel from slag when drop pods arrive that with a smelter you can build whatever you want.
Thought I'd share a picture of my colony. It's winter 5504 and the colony is turning in to a fairly decent place to live. Research on the various ship technologies is progressing well, hopefully soon we will be able to start construction.
(http://i.imgur.com/UkrNNmO.jpg)
I knew that you could build a smelter instead of a comms console + orbital beacon (either option costs 170 steel), but I believed that steel would be too meager with just the smelter (buying 540 from an orbital trader in my current run still feels desperately scarce), but your success seems to suggest otherwise. I will have to try it next attempt.
Quote from: Shad on January 02, 2017, 08:43:28 AM
The first raider had tuque and the first wandered had a shoddy, but muffalo parka. Having read all the horrible stories so far, I decided to do a different thing. I got Engie to pack up an leave. There's a 6 hex patch of ice sheet about 5 days travel away (around 10 degrees warmer), 2 of the hexes with hills. So Engie packed up all remaining food (13 days), some components and medicine and set off and colonised the hilly bit. Having found a vent she walled that off and no longer as to worry about freezing.
She may still starve to death, as I could not pack wood to set up a research bench and finish hydroponics. Will let you know how this proceeds.
And it seems a butcher table cannot be made without some wood either. Engie managed to survive, but until a trader comes, the seems to be stuck munching on unbutchered raider and escape pod corpses.
Why do these raiders not carry any food on them? I'm sure they are supposed to.
Quote from: Zhentar on January 02, 2017, 05:16:29 PM
I knew that you could build a smelter instead of a comms console + orbital beacon (either option costs 170 steel), but I believed that steel would be too meager with just the smelter (buying 540 from an orbital trader in my current run still feels desperately scarce), but your success seems to suggest otherwise. I will have to try it next attempt.
It's a trade off either way, I suppose. Building comms console first means you're gambling for a bulk goods trader to come by but building a smelter means you get a slow but steady supply of steel from drop pods and raider weapons. You can get a comms console set up after you melt down a few slag, too, so at worst you're missing out on a couple traders.
My tactic was smelter first, then with the steel from slag I built a cook stove to cook some human meat and avoid the raw cannibalism penalty. I fed Engie human meat meals and forbid the packaged survival meals. If she got a mood penalty from a psychic drone or anything I'd put her back on a diet of survival meal to avoid breaks. After the stove I built a comms console and beacon. Using this tactic I still had 8 survival meals at the time I had my first hydroponics basic up.
Here's a picture of her very first harvest. She only managed to get three rice because of a solar flare. But hey, a harvest is a harvest.
(http://i.imgur.com/lwGB52w.jpg)
There's only 4 packaged survival meals in the picture because she had a mental break earlier and decided to eat half of them.
I've been playing this challenge since a few hours after it was issued. I think it took me 5+ tries to even get the first structure built (I was WAY too ambitious at first). Previously I'd never played on a difficulty higher than rough and mostly on basebuilder with Phoebe so this game has forced me to actually develop my non-existant combat/defensive skills. I'm loving it!
My first run that made it past the first day actually made it to early winter. Had some warm clothes and a generous thrumbo kept the cannibalism to a minimum and then I got my first bulk goods trader! I was so excited I probably took half an hour trying to decide what Engie needed most. Then, before the goods were even put away a Scyther came through and killed her. I lost two more good runs to scythers before I got combat figured out.
Run 18 (old Engie 0 research save)- Day 5: Bulk goods trader! At the same time Engie's brother wanders up and dies so Engie ends up with a few more precious resources and a 2 season long mood penalty.
A lone raider came and donated a camelhair parka and muffalo wool tuque just in time to help survive a solar flare. Toasty warm.
Day 12: An exotic goods trader came and takes all the raiders clothes off my hands.
Day 14: Another Bulk goods trader! Sweet!
Day 16: A kid wanders up, not good at anything but willing to do everything and Engie's feeling good after the traders so she gives him a shot. Roman joins the colony.
Day 17: Scyther gets lucky and downs Engie with a shot to the leg. Roman picks up Engie's charge rifle and takes out the scyther in one shot. Good thing she kept him around!
Day 19: Patched up and back to business she notices Roman isn't inside and rushes to rescue the fool who got stoned and forgot he doesn't have warm clothes yet. After warning him off drugs and patching up his frostbitten toes she locks him inside.
Day 21: The desperation of starvation has set in. Engie butchers corpses to give them a chance to stay alive and while the food is welcome to both Engie snaps halfwaythrough the grisly task. In a panicked attempt to block her outside Roman barricades the door, but with himself on the wrong side of the barricade. Quickly realizing his mistake he manages to fix it while Engie punches him in the face. While hiding inside and listening to Engie scream obscenities through the door he realizes he should have seen it coming when he saw Engie's last snowman holding a club.
Day 22: Eventually calm, Engie spends her days watching the sunrise and going for long walks trying to figure out how she got where she is but unable to reach any satisfactory answers she breaks again and wanders in a daze until she collapses from exhaustion.
Day 23: Roman has a terrible time in his single player chess match and goes on a rampage. It takes him a while but he eventually finds Engie as she drags herself home and they proceed to have a fistfight. Despite her state Engie's experience serves her well and she knocks him out. A feeling of peace and hope comes over her and she patches him up praying tomorrow will be better.
Roman and Engie are both still on edge and mending when a pirate raid charges. Two succumb to the cold before they even got close, one finally went down after Engie shot him 6 times and the last fled. Still bruised Engie crawls into bed for some much needed rest.
Day 24: While she's sleeping Roman is left with his dark thoughts and he snaps again. He throws her out of bed and starts punching her over and over. She goes down quickly but he just stands over her waiting for her to get up so he can knock her down again.
Day 25: Salvation! Engie's lover, Tom, arrives and charges to her rescue. He knocks him out and leaves Roman out in the cold getting some satisfaction seeing his rival die.
Day 30: While very grateful for his assistance and research expertise Engie is a bit gunshy after her experience with Roman and still can't decide if she really wants to keep Tom around until a big pile of eggs and nutrient paste fall from the sky and she decides to give it a go.
Day 36: Things are looking up and Tom proposes. Engie supposes that even if she does have to do all the cleaning and hauling it is pretty nice having another warm body around so she accepts.
Day 40: A bulk goods trader! While Engie sits on the comm bartering for their supplies a mercenary wanders up and hands Tom his muffalo wool parka and then walks back out into the cold without a word. A bit confused but far too grateful to refuse Tom is happy to be warm again.
Day 47: Wedding Day! Spring is here and life is good after that dark dark winter.
Day 49: Tom leaves the smelter running when there's no wind for the generators draining the batteries and killing all the crops. He decides it's time to face reality and that if he wants to keep his new bride alive it's butchering time. Still unhappy about it Engie finds cannibalism easier to bear with Tom by her side and even finds a little mean happiness eating her Roman burger.
Day 51: A pirate merchant swings by taking all the raiders ratty clothes.
Day 54: Tom once again proves his love for Engie when 2 scythers charge. One takes Engie down with a shot to her bad leg but Tom kills them both before they can do any lasting damage. While he's rescuing Engie a bulk goods trader arrives. Tom doesn't know what to do with himself, he never could handle himself on the comm and while standing there flustered Jupiter waltzes in and starts barking out orders. She sends Tom to tend Engie and talks down the traders to an excellent price on some desperately needed components and materials.
Day 60: Neither Engie nor Tom has mustered up the courage to send Jupiter packing. She's just been SO useful Tom feels a bit sidelined and very glad he's married to Engie or he probably would have been sent packing in her place. After the last trader it seems like there might be enough materials for an expansion. Supporting a third colonist is risky though...
And that is when I went to bed last night. One full year in and possibly enough materials for sufficient food and power production but so much risk... I ended up here making a forum account and sharing the story rather than play it to the end I know is so rapidly headed my way.
OK, you guys are having too much fun with this, so I'm going to give it a try. Will let you know how it works out :)
Day 61: Engie is struggling to overcome plague and missing her right foot. Another bulk goods trader comes buy with more components and takes all our leather armchairs without asking what kind of leather they're made from.
Day 64: Back on her feet and working with Jupiter to clean up the base all three rally together to fight off two scythers. Tom takes a headshot and goes down. Engie takes two to the chest and dies. Jupiter takes out one scyther but the last one kills her instantly with a shot through the heart. Tom lays there and bleeds out while the scyther destroys all they built.
Turns out food wasn't the issue. The number of traders on this run was crazy high compared to my other ones but in exchange I had very few cargo pods and only 1 single ship chunk. I was happy with the tradeoff but it was interesting. I'm getting way better at the combat mechanics but I'm still pretty terrible. It's been so tempting to turn down the difficulty to accommodate but so far I've resisted. :)
I think I'm going to take a little break before starting again with the new and improved Engie save.
Man I've been really enjoying everyone's attempts at this. Makes me want to play right now. Well, I think I will.
Spring 5504
Pirate trade ship showed up, the colony bought a slave. He was told to shovel snow. All of the snow.
Summer 5504
Ship research completed. Ship construction begins. It seems the colony is lacking uranium to complete the ship so hopefully a trade will show up soon. We should have enough steel and plasteel from disassembling mechanoids to complete everything else, though.
So here's my story so far:
Run #1: built my initial hut too large, Engie got frostbite. I restarted rather than waiting for her to get infected and die.
Run #2: Built my initial hut, discovered there is starting silver, decided to restart to use it.
Run #3: discovered I can only carry enough silver for five blocks, but that's 25 more wood I'll have later if I need it. Initial fire warmed the cabin adequately. Got my solar panel and battery built. Built a heater, deconstructed the campfire... and promptly started freezing. WTF? Got frostbite running back and forth to build a 2nd heater. But why does my 7x5 cabin need two heaters when one campfire worked fine? Anyway, frostbite healed without incident, now planning to go out and do some hauling. Right after I build a silver airlock.
Oh crap. After building a steel bed, a second heater, and a steel horseshoe pin... I don't have enough steel left for a coms console and an orbital trade beacon. The second heater is what really did me in. Sorry Engie, time to dig a hole in the ice and jump in.
Actually... I am not quite sure my initial plan is going to work no matter how I spin it. You start with 450 steel. Deduct 100 for a solar panel, 50 for a battery, 65 for a heater, that's 235 to survive. 170 gets you coms with orbitals if they ever show up. That's 65 left -- 15 short of what I need for a stove.
It seems like the better plan is to punt traders and focus on researching Electric Smelting.
There's a reason we're building tiny 3x4 huts :) One heater keeps mine up to a cozy -40C on the cold winter nights.
My first successful hydroponics harvest!
(http://imgur.com/MCTslY8.jpg)
edit: Highly recommend building a turbine, not a solar panel. Solar will kind of sort of work in the summer, and produce a tiny trickle in winter.
I tried solar at first too until I discovered the days get drastically shorter in the winter. I'm finding wind with lots of batteries as buffers to be working all right as I expand.
The new save with the improved Engie is going WAY easier than the old version. Partly because I have a clue what I'm doing but the quick turnaround on the smelter (I think I had it built on day 6?) makes a huge difference in speed of play. I'm in late spring year 1 with a nice hydro room and am getting started building real defenses. This despite not getting my first bulk goods trader until midwinter (then two more during spring).
She's still all alone but so far a simple flu and the loss of her sister is all that has ailed her. I'm almost ready to welcome another colonist should a decent one come along.
So then wind power and a smelter might be the way to go, ok, I'll give that a try in run #4
Ive tried a few playthoughs. Had to edit the original save to remove the permadeath mode as it was too much a pain to copy/restart.
1st play-though:
Built a little too big Eugene died on day 1 of Hypothermia
2: Run, still too big,
3rd,4th, 5th: Staging problems and build order issues
6th: Finally got a base built, but then I had some steel land on the far corner of the map and Eugene died from Hypothermia trying to get it
7th: Shot by a raider, a minor flesh wound means instant death because no self medicine
8th: So far doing ok, finished research on Hydro and Smelting but wasted a bit too much material my house is too big.
Couple interesting notes/exploits:
The communication console even unbuilt acts like a wall. I use it for the back of my house to allow for quick expansion without resource loss. Not sure what other buildables work this way but ill need to experiment. Similar to what some of the other players have been doing.
Also question for you guys: How do you deal with Raiders? Its not cold enough for them to freeze and bleeding has a 100% chance of death with one pawn. Any tricks you can share?
Also current build order:
Walls+Fire
Heater+Battery+Wind demolish fire
Research bench -> Smelting ->Hydro ->deconstruct
Butcher Table
?Electric stove maybe
?? Not sure after that Tried Hydro but Too cold in my main room even with 2 heaters. Any time the door opens plants die/dont grow.
Quote from: snoodog on January 03, 2017, 12:24:38 PM
Also question for you guys: How do you deal with Raiders? Its not cold enough for them to freeze and bleeding has a 100% chance of death with one pawn. Any tricks you can share?
Bleeding isn't 100% chance of death. In my game Engie got shot in the lung by a mechanoid and healed up completely despite a 70%/d bleed rate just by staying in bed the whole time and eating when required. You'll always heal while resting even if you are patched up.
For early raids the best tactic I've found is hit and run. Hide around corners and hit them while they are distracted by trying to destroy something else. It is
always cold enough for them to freeze to death unless they have wool clothing of some type. Sometimes you just have to retreat and let them try to steal things from your base; they usually wont make it to the edge of the map.
Quote from: DeathWeasel on January 03, 2017, 12:53:46 PM
Quote from: snoodog on January 03, 2017, 12:24:38 PM
Also question for you guys: How do you deal with Raiders? Its not cold enough for them to freeze and bleeding has a 100% chance of death with one pawn. Any tricks you can share?
Bleeding isn't 100% chance of death. In my game Engie got shot in the lung by a mechanoid and healed up completely despite a 70%/d bleed rate just by staying in bed the whole time and eating when required. You'll always heal while resting even if you are patched up.
For early raids the best tactic I've found is hit and run. Hide around corners and hit them while they are distracted by trying to destroy something else. It is always cold enough for them to freeze to death unless they have wool clothing of some type. Sometimes you just have to retreat and let them try to steal things from your base; they usually wont make it to the edge of the map.
Yeah the bleeding isnt so bad but the infection is the real killer. For me the 3rd+ round of raiders typically spawns with gear rated to -60 to -100 so some never freeze and some just take forever.
I've been building a bed out of silver as someone suggested earlier in this thread and it has saved Engie more than once. The huge mood boost from a good build (current one is Superior) but even a lesser one helped her immunity/bleeding heal. After a bad fight she ended up infected and bleeding but she overcame both with 98% on the infection when immunity hit. I think that was the most intense moment I've had in this game. So, with a good bed, bleeding is not 100% death.
For raiders I've been building a few little single post walls around and putting roofs over them to shoot from behind.
Quote from: snoodog on January 03, 2017, 12:24:38 PM
Couple interesting notes/exploits:
The communication console even unbuilt acts like a wall. I use it for the back of my house to allow for quick expansion without resource loss. Not sure what other buildables work this way but ill need to experiment. Similar to what some of the other players have been doing.
The comm console and the paste dispenser both work that way. Also unbuilt walls (materials loaded but work forbid). I've used it a bit but it just feels too cheesy and I don't anymore.
I haven't had any problems with plants dying from opening the doors, are you using double doors? If you are and you're still getting that much heat loss you probably just need another heater or a smaller space as you're hovering to close to too cold. My starter hut is big enough to hold the research bench 1 heater and engie's bed with the only open space the interaction spot in front of the door (not a perfect rectangle). Stuff that falls far from home just gets ignored until someone brings her a warm parka.
Something I've been wondering now that I finally have a dedicated hydro room is how batteries/windmills work. Since the windmill has down time and super high output at others is there an optimal number of batteries per windmill to catch as much power as possible during the high times?
Remember that after half of the raiders die, they flee - and when they flee, they drop anything they were carrying off. So you only have to make sure half of them die before they get your good stuff off map, which often doesn't require shooting them at all. When you do need to fight, focus fire on the warmest pawns; even minor hypothermia gives pawns very poor accuracy.
Engie XVIII Continued!
Day 66: A second bulk goods trader. When it rains, it pours.
Day 67: Accept a call for help, business as usual, but I stupidly think I can shoot down four guys with personal shields. Engie loses a finger, and blood loss becomes a thing. Fortunately, a wanderer joins immediately and patches her right up, but Engie's gonna operate a permanent 90% manipulation until I get her a bionic arm.
Day 68: Ungrateful little snot went and mental break'd on me RIGHT after I saved her.
Day 69: Psychic ship. As soon as Helene (second colonist) stops sad wandering, we're gonna pick up a couple rifles and go on a hunt.
Day 71: Ship was easy to kill, Helene dies to hypothermia. WTB: Better colonist!
Have to ask, how do i play this save? I need every step, please.
How to play:
1) Go to the original post, download the save file, put it somewhere you can find it.
2) Open Rimworld, go to Options, click "open save folder". Go into "Saves" in the save directory, copy the file you downloaded to there.
3) Load the game, die.
4) Copy the file from where you downloaded it to the save directory again. And again. And again :)
Run #5: I got my initial hut built. Saved 25 wood by making a silver door. Windmill, battery, heater, wood bed all good. Research bench complete, researching electric smelting. And now... I wait.
Fall 5506
Finally, a trader shows up with Uranium. It was a superior uranium knife costing over $10k, but that's a small price to pay for getting out of this frozen hellhole. Engie melts it down and puts the finishing touches on the ship's engines and everyone enters cryosleep without looking back.
The ship launches, hopefully taking the colonists to some place less terrible than this one.
(http://i.imgur.com/BzIishL.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/JrKf03M.jpg)
Quote from: DeathWeasel on January 03, 2017, 05:54:05 PM
Fall 5506
Finally, a trader shows up with Uranium. It was a superior uranium knife costing over $10k, but that's a small price to pay for getting out of this frozen hellhole. Engie melts it down and puts the finishing touches on the ship's engines and everyone enters cryosleep without looking back.
The ship launches, hopefully taking the colonists to some place less terrible than this one.
Any tips for the rest of us? Lessons learned?
Quote from: Shurp on January 03, 2017, 05:42:16 PM
How to play:
1) Go to the original post, download the save file, put it somewhere you can find it.
2) Open Rimworld, go to Options, click "open save folder". Go into "Saves" in the save directory, copy the file you downloaded to there.
3) Load the game, die.
4) Copy the file from where you downloaded it to the save directory again. And again. And again :)
Thanks, i really appreciate it. Time to start up some runs, i'll tell ya guys how im going :P
Quote from: snoodog on January 03, 2017, 06:12:17 PM
Any tips for the rest of us? Lessons learned?
Once you get established, buy the gold and uranium you need for the ship so you're not stuck waiting a year and a half longer than you need to. Steel and plasteel are pretty abundant once you get the machining table because of the sheer number of mechanoids you'll be fighting but there's no way to get gold and uranium except luck.
Also, floors are your friend. that 50% move speed from ice is painful. It's worth it to set up a few extra hydroponics just for the carpet.
How much gold and uranium do you need for a ship launch? I haven't bothered building a ship since A13.
Quote from: DeathWeasel on January 03, 2017, 06:26:30 PM
Also, floors are your friend. that 50% move speed from ice is painful. It's worth it to set up a few extra hydroponics just for the carpet.
I built some carpets with sky cotton, and holy crap yes. I had gotten used to their movement speed with almost always playing at 2x or more, now it seems crazy when they hit the carpet and take off running.
Quote from: Shurp on January 03, 2017, 06:44:59 PM
How much gold and uranium do you need for a ship launch? I haven't bothered building a ship since A13.
You need 100 gold for the computer core, 150 uranium for the reactor, and 100 uranium for the engines plus 5 uranium for each cryptosleep casket.
So I had a look at the world map... god, this planet is an iceball. But it gave me a thought. Instead of building a ship to get off, why not hike overland to the nearby mountains once you have manufactured enough long pork sausages to survive the journey?
Quote from: Shurp on January 03, 2017, 07:33:47 PM
So I had a look at the world map... god, this planet is an iceball. But it gave me a thought. Instead of building a ship to get off, why not hike overland to the nearby mountains once you have manufactured enough long pork sausages to survive the journey?
We all have our own definitions of victory. He wanted to escape, you want to move to more hospitable terrain, I want to be the QUEEN OF THE ANTARCTIC!
OK, time for an abusive blow by blow:
Run 5 Day 6:
After watching Engie research for days, something finally happens. A new colonist wanders in from the map edge. Boyer walks over to my camp, builds a bigger overhang on the hut to store stuff under, and starts hauling things over to the hut. Then horror strikes -- he goes on a food binge! Angie runs outside and plugs him with plasma before he has a chance to eat the meal he grabbed. She strips him down, leaves him to bleed, and goes back inside to take a nap.
I'm not too upset over the incident -- his clothes were tattered anyway. A few more holes didn't make much of a difference.
Run 5 Day 7:
A Thrumbo shows up. I ignore it. He gets cold and leaves. Shortly after a lone rader with a steel shiv shows up. He wanders around for a while, then attacks; Engie puts him down and leaves him to bleed before hauling him to a safe spot.
Run 5 Day 8:
Engie finishes researching Electric Smelting. She grabs Boyer's hat and hauls the last of the steel over, then goes inside to warm up for a while. Time to start researching Hydroponics... not that she'll need it for a long while. She smelts Boyer's pistol down later on... for a massive 8 steel. Wow, getting enough steel for a butcher table and stove is going to take a *long* time.
Run 4, Day 61: A fleeing refugee! We agree to help. Five shielded melee raiders follow behind her, three of them wearing warm clothes. She's a pacifist. All three colonists get kidnapped, all five raiders escape the map alive.
edit: And Engie died to an infection off screen, no ransom :(
The real kicker is, not two days earlier I decided to use my 100 steel to make another wind turbine instead of a plasteel turret. Oh well, next time!
Quote from: Shurp on January 03, 2017, 08:24:49 PM
Run 5 Day 7:
A Thrumbo shows up. I ignore it. He gets cold and leaves. Shortly after a lone rader with a steel shiv shows up. He wanders around for a while, then attacks; Engie puts him down and leaves him to bleed before hauling him to a safe spot.
Summer Thrumbos are the worst. You need to run out and surgically implant a few new holes with your charge rifle, then run away while you wait for hypothermia to kick in. If it has serious hypothermia, you can outrun it, but it's still an annoying game of micromanagement. If they appear in Winter, they die before they can escape.
Quote from: Sola on January 03, 2017, 08:50:15 PM
If they appear in Winter, they die before they can escape.
I hope to be in my mountain cave before winter. But first I have to get my sausage factory going. Two meatbags are waiting to be processed...
Run 5, Day 9:
Engie rejects a distress call. Why does anyone ever bother with these useless losers?
Run 5, Day 10:
Engie is getting bored waiting for something to happen. Maybe she should have accepted that call, at least some more meatbags would freeze nearby. And it would alleviate the boredom.
Oh, she finished researching hydroponics. Now on to... well, smithing I guess.
Run 5, Day 11:
Cargo pods land giving me 8 steel slag chunks -- on the far corner of the map where I'll freeze if I try to grab them. But Engie is desperately bored so she gives it a try. And she makes it with only 20% hypothermia! The hat and parka from the corpses really came in handy.
Engie also made herself a fancy silver bed. Her original bed is sitting outside in case she ever finds a friend worth keeping around.
Run 5, Day 12:
Grabbing 3 slag chunks gave me enough steel to build a butcher table. Yay, Engie can butcher her meatbags now! Wow, she's not happy about butchering "humanlike". -11, that's a heavy penalty for two corpses - and a 5 day duration, ouch! But she's going to be even less happy when she starts eating 'em... I think mood management is going to be more difficult than temperature management going forward.
I never reject the distress calls. Fresh meat & loot, at just the price of a -3 'colonist died' debuff (or ending your run...).
Which speaking of... that was a rush. I took on a wanderer in late fall. A few days later, a distress call... from his mother. I accept, determined to save his mother, rather than letting the refugee die as usual. Then she walks on to the map, completely naked. It's -124C outside. Had her son run straight towards her (thankfully he was already somewhat on that side of the map), and where they met, he stripped off his wool parka and she put it on. She was already at 58% hypothermic, so while it slowed the loss, she collapsed not long later. He picks her up and runs for the hut... and collapses from his own hypothermia at the door. Engie has to break off from from the two melee raiders attacking her (thankfully another raider shot and killed one) and rush over to haul them into the room. The raiders start collapsing from hypothermia and fleeing (no survivors)... but not all is well. The hut is only -35C and without his parka son's comfortable temperature is only -28C; he's still dying, very slowly. So Engie walls up the door. The room heats up, son recovers & tends his mother. All said and done, the only loss was Engie's right ear and one of Mom's toes, but it was a pretty close call.
Just saw this popping up on YouTube so I figured I'd check it out, as I'm looking for a new challenge (even though I can barely do ice sheet due to mental breakdowns lol)
It sure looks interesting already as it's -86°C right off the bat, and there are no resources whatsoever apart from starting resources. Will feed back on this!
New record: 4 hours
Engie collapsed from Hypothermia before she could get the base built
Quote from: XeoNovaDan on January 04, 2017, 02:33:36 AM
New record: 4 hours Engie collapsed from Hypothermia before she could get the base built
Yeah, watch the opening youtube intro to learn how it's done. You have to start small and micromanage temperature in that first day for Engie to have a chance. But don't worry, it gets easier once you have some corpses to strip.
I do micromanage my food though. All food is forbidden until Engie gets down to 10%. And I don't let her carry any meals (she might decide to eat one on her own).
Speaking of food micromanagement... has anyone else noticed that hunger ("Food" bar) declines *much* slower when you get to the bottom? I think I'm seriously stretching out my food supply by preventing Engie from eating... I think forcing her down to 5% would go even further. It's day 14 now and I still have 22 packaged survival meals left. At this rate I may not have to start eating people until winter.
Between 10% and 20%, hunger rate is halved. Between 0% and 10%, it's 1/4th. Which means if you micro to the point that she always eats at 0% instead of 20%, you can stretch your food supply out twice as long. It's a pretty serious mood hit, though (but then again, so is cannibalism).
Run 5, Day 25. A siege? Interesting. It's going to be funny to watch... HOLY SHIT THEY BROUGHT ME 400 STEEL
N+1: Died from Hypothermia on day 1. Forgot to order Engine to stay inside, she went out to haul things to the scrap pile and died:
N+2: Got to about day 15 with 2 colonists. Engine has a breakdown as wanders right as a Raid hits, everyone dies.
N+3: Tomorrow
Yeah, I struck some minor success when checking out a part of a video on this, but then Engie got an infection from frostbite that she contracted while waiting for temps to rise, so I knew she was doomed. This was 7 hours ago but then I had to go to school
Will try it again some time this evening (in the UK)
Edit: Also just noticed this is also on Extreme, which is out of my league in itself (still keeping it Extreme though). I typically play on Intense :P
run 1: died before shelter could be put up
run 2: lasted a season, but got no traders, had to eat human meat, and a new colonist (engie's husband) went insane from it and burned the house down. Never under any circumstances recruit pyromaniacs here.
run 3: Engie got a trader and was about to start constructing hydroponics when she got sick with the flu and was attacked by 3 raiders with rifles and died
run 4: Lasted a whole year! Engie's brother came along early on, he was a psychopath, which was great because he could butcher and eat the corpses with no side effect. No traders in sight, so i tried to send him to the nearest town to get some steel. But we ran out of food so he had to return before he got there.
Then he started mental breaking from other things after a couple raids and i decided to let him freeze. Bad idea. Big happiness loss, plus Engie got sick with sensory mechanites. Silver lining though, she was attacked by 12 raiders, and due to her heightened senses she killed all of them herself! She is a steely eyed missile woman!
After many seasons, a seige! Most of the siegers died of hypothermia, gifting me with 400 units of sweet sweet steel! Got one hydroponics table up and some power. Then a 17 year old pyromaniac with good skills came along I decide to keep her for some reason. All this food rains down from the sky, so Engie doesn't go insane.
Pyromaniac does, however, and burns down the whole place. Dead.
NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES ALLOW A PYROMANIAC INTO YOUR COLONY.
run 5: Tried the smelter approach. Took over a season to research it. Just as i finish building it and go to use it, the power cuts off, engie goes insane right outside the front door, and dies of hypothermia.
Now the game's just messing with me.
Quote from: Shurp on January 03, 2017, 10:47:05 PM
Run 5, Day 9:
Engie rejects a distress call. Why does anyone ever bother with these useless losers?
Synthread and hyperweave clothes sell for quite a bit. Human corpses supply both meat and leather in a pinch. The raiders might be carrying wool parkas.
Also, agree on the pyromaniac thing. Zzzt! is one of the most devastating things that can happen, if it starts in the wrong place. Having a pyromaniac is just another source of those.
Quote from: Zhentar on January 04, 2017, 09:35:58 AM
Which means if you micro to the point that she always eats at 0% instead of 20%, you can stretch your food supply out twice as long.
==== DAYUM !!! ===
Looks like Engie is going to have to learn to enjoy being hungry!
Quote from: Quasarrgames on January 04, 2017, 11:53:20 AM
Just as i finish building it and go to use it, the power cuts off, engie goes insane right outside the front door, and dies of hypothermia.
How does one survive a solar flare in this challenge? It's not like there's much wood lying around to start a campfire to keep warm with...
I always try to keep enough wood on hand for a campfire until I have good enough clothing to survive a winter solar flare without it (~-130C min comfortable temperature). A construction failure on my research bench prevented that in my current run; I would've replaced wood walls with silver ones to scrape together the 20 wood if need be.
Run N+3:
Everything is going great day 15 killed a couple raiders got my smelter going.
Day 16: Plague - Game over you die 0 chance of survival. And im f$%*ing done. I need mods to fix this broken shit medicine/disease system in A16 I hate it so damn much.
Dammit. Run 5, Day 44: Everything is going well, except for Skye's mental breaks after getting addicted to the wakeup I foolishly bought from a pirate.
Oh look, a mechanoid drop pod raid, with two centipedes.
Everyone is dead. I was not even remotely close to prepared to fight off two centipedes, and particularly not the one with an inferno cannon.
I was watching Rhadamant's play video to see again how he started, and heard him say something about hypothermia recovery time, so I decided I should check the exact mechanics.
My main takeaways:
- The more severe the hypothermia, the faster the recovery. Recovering from 30% doesn't take twice as long as from 15%, it's only about 50% longer.
- The temperature only has to be above the minimum comfy temperature. It doesn't matter by how much
- The risk of frostbite starts at 37%
So early game, it's best to stay outside working until about 30-35% before coming in to warm up; less time waiting for Engie to recover and less time waiting for the room temperature to recover than with more, shorter trips outside.
Hmmm, plague and inferno cannons definitely don't work in this scenario.
But... how much colony wealth did you have at that point? Maybe you need to take on a few extra colonists once you have the sausage factory going.
(My colony is worth 14451 after 17 days. Once I get my stove built I can probably start feeding more colonists. Remember, meatbags are the only renewable resource out here)
Quote from: Quasarrgames on January 04, 2017, 11:53:20 AM
Now the game's just messing with me.
No question about it, the game intentionally messes with you.
Day 19: Engie celebrates because she built her second heater and her bedroom is nice and toasty warm now.
A solar flare immediately follows.
I was up to 50600 wealth, and I had three pawns (and I was feeding them without any cannibalism!), but they weren't particularly good fighters and one was having a mental break (although dancing around with a personal shield still contributed quite a bit more than nothing).
I suspect the three pawn was actually part of the problem - I got a lot more hauling done than usual, and there wasn't any slag left on the entire map.
The next thing I need to look into is how gear on buried corpses works. I suspect that it doesn't decay and also doesn't count towards wealth. If both are true, then I should skip stripping the and bury them with the gear on, and dig them up when an orbital trader arrives; it would save quite a bit of space and hauling if I can do it that way.
Gear on corpses counts towards colony wealth, buried or not. It does not decay while buried though, so I probably will bury the ones with crap gear just for stockpile management and less hauling.
What are people using for their starting room? I tried making a 4x4 without using my exploit-y unbuilt NPD double wall, and it couldn't stay warm enough so Engie got a lot of frostbite overnight.
Quote from: Zhentar on January 05, 2017, 10:30:10 AM
What are people using for their starting room? I tried making a 4x4 without using my exploit-y unbuilt NPD double wall, and it couldn't stay warm enough so Engie got a lot of frostbite overnight.
My starting room was 4x3. You only need it big enough for a bed, a heater, and a research bench. Any bigger and you're just wasting materials and your heater wont be able to keep up. I think a lot of people mistakenly believe they will be able to fit their hydroponics basins in their starting room and try to build it big enough to accommodate them, but doing so is a death sentence.
I decided to try my hand at this. Though I decided to play with "some" mods, as I'm not a really good player... and I like mods...
My first 4 runs didn't go so well. Either too big of a room, or trying to build everything at once.... she died pretty quickly...
On my 5th, I lasted 20 days. The first person to join gave me a nice coat, -60c that was nice. shortly after that I got 2 raids that end well for me, and another person that donated her body. In the end she went into a daze and died in the snow...
My question is how much the heater heats. My first area was 3x2, with my first heater. I added a second part making the area 4x6 and made a second heater, I noticed that I had almost no steel. any tips for the heater?
3x4 is basically the smallest you can go for your starting room, and a single heater should be able to keep it above -14C (the comfy temperature with your starting gear) through all of summer. Adding another 12-15 tiles onto that (enough space for 2 hydroponics bays while still using the room as a bedroom) takes 3 heaters + double door airlock to keep it warm enough to grow plants in the winter.
Power + battery + 2 heaters + research table doesn't leave you with enough to make a source for more steel. You can skip the battery if you make a solar panel, which can run two heaters 24/7 for most of the summer, but it won't run shit in winter so it probably hurts you in the long run.
For the air lock. are you using a door, space, door?
WDW
WSW
WDW
W as wall, D as for door, S for space... like empty area...
Run 6... death by infection... day 3 or 4
http://imgur.com/uiqKgLe.png
WDW
SDS
SSS
No way I'm blowing 20 resources on some walls for a fancy airlock.
Decided to give it a try as well.
day 3: Vladimir joins in, forcing Engie to quickly come up with a name for her little shackle. This half of the planet shall hereby be known as the "Engie's sea". Vladimir offers to take all the medicine and most of the food, and try to make a run to nearby town for some supplies. He has just enough food to make it to the town.
day 6/ 5:00 O'clock: Another visit. This time by a guy who ran towards engie shouting "Death to Engie!" with a club in hand. Engie shot him dead, and then emptied the whole magazine into his corpse just to be sure.
day 6/ 7:00 o'clock: Valentina followed by 2 hostile tribesman appears. Poor Valentina, she never stood a chance without any clothes. Engie decided to kill her pursuers so she can rest at peace (and also cause Engie wants a human leather armchair ;))
day 6/ 8:00 o'clock: Vladimir gets ambushed, luckily only by 1 other pirate who is armed only with club. A fierce battle begins. Club vs club. Vladimir emerges victorious with only some minor bruises.
day 9: Solar flare, nothing for Engie to be concerned about. Time to do even more researching, like every day.
day 10: Vladimir has made it to the land! Also he has fully recovered from his skirmish. Only 5 more days, and he will reach his destination. Lets just hope that the cost of food to get him back wont be more than all that glitterworld medicine hes carrying. Engie is starting to question why Vladimir left without taking any of that substantial amount of silver lying on her veranda.
day 11: Another raid, another raider with a club. It would seem that clubs are the weapon of choice for local pirates. This suits Engie just fine. This one was poorly dressed, and didnt even make it to the shack. Poor Engie, will have to walk all the way over there for that fresh leather if she wants to have a human leather armchair anytime soon.
day 12-13: It would seem a ship blew up in orbit, as its raining ship chunks, escape pods and drop pods. Finally Engie has something to build more walls with (sandstone) some steel for some heavy machinery and fox leather for armchairs! But she wanted that human leather armchair so bad :( The escape pod survivor turns out to be a pyromaniac. Pyromaniacs ought not walk this world and so Engie decides this one shall not walk ever again.
Got bored wathing engie research stuff, more to follow sometime later.
Here is my "goto-steps" when starting on this map:
First off, pre your Engie landing, I do the following steps:
a) Allow all the wood to the north (http://imgur.com/Ko9djbK) (plans are just added to make it easier to understand)
b) Presetup construction of walls and a door (http://imgur.com/MSDWi8V)
Now ... that Engie has landed speed never goes past the slowest speed (well, those that knows what to do can ofc make it faster). The important part here is to never let Engie do anything she dont need to do. I havent unforbidden the food or picked up the weapon, as its not needed for the task at hand.
So the next step is to lay materials to the walls and door, I dont let Engie construct anything, only placing materials! (http://imgur.com/i2MeprG). Now, as _soon_ as the door has all materials needed (I still dont let Engie construct anything),I set up the campfire (http://imgur.com/nI4Kz88). In the screenshots I let Engie construct some on one of the walls, but its really not that dangerouse, just keep it to a minimum!
Ok, so far so good? The next step I take is to, whenever campfire is completed, to force her to make the door (http://imgur.com/jP5HjTH). This will result in her making the roof as soon as its complete, then as soon as the last tile indoors has been roofed I force her to finish up the campfire (http://imgur.com/T6K8dnl).
Now you should be fully walled in (im totally aware of that the corners of the base is missing, they however dont matter, room is fully sealed), and safe (http://imgur.com/CmYzgNQ)! Now restrict usage of the door so that Engie finish up constructing the walls while she is getting rid of any hypotermia that she`s got. If dont without many "errors" it should reach a max of 31% before dropping. While she is waiting for hypotermia to drop, unselect the 3 patches of steel and the components, you need these to get some proper heating!
The next steps is to set up a storagepile right outside your door, and start to haul those components and steel (http://imgur.com/I5J6nx2) (there is no need to worry about food yet as long as you havent let Engie do "useless stuff"). I prefer to do 1 hauling at a time and let her rest off her hypotermia inside the shelter, but I guess thats optional. You can do 2 hauls pre warming up again, but I prefer the "safer" route.
As soon as you have hauled those materials (should be 5 trips in total), you are ready to make some proper power and heating (http://imgur.com/KWW63jg). Engie should still be "fine" in regards of eating, as long as you havent had any failed construction or wasting of time otherwise. If you have, now might be the time to unforbid a stack of food and tell her to haul it. Hauling a stack of food (10) is way better than letting it sit out there to rot, afterall, Engie gotta do that one trip regardless?
Now, as Engie is constructing the heater (http://imgur.com/qYLijJL) (last thing you force her to do basicly) select the campfire and deconstruct it (make shure the door is forced offlimits). She might want to start sleeping at this point, but as you never run the game at any fast speeds you can quicly force to do whats needed.
Now, you should have a safehouse and Engie without any injuries. If done correctly, new players will understand what micromanagement is involved to also keep Engie feed, warm and rested during the first crucial few minutes on arrival. Personally i make a silver bed (to get rid of the debuff from awefull bedrom) right over the heaterlocation, and the researchbench to the right side of the base (it will just fit).
What people do next, is totally up to them, but I can make a few steps more if people are interested!
I did add some plans for future expansion of the base, its only for outerwalls and an airlock, its nothing thats planned for used earlygame. However, after you research smelting and hydro, the researchbench can be deconstructed and a hydro will fit inside the starting base alongside with a sunlamp. Just keep in mind that power wont be enough with the starting setup (but it will fit when moving the bed horizontally up to the right and heater top left!)
Day 1. My ship crashlanded here in the middle of the ice sheet, after a desperate struggle to get a shelter up in time I barely managed to get a basic shelter up and a campfire before I froze to death. I am settling in for a night of terrible sleep here, hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Day 4. I basic power production, a battery and an electric heater up and running by now. I also managed to get a commos console and an orbital trade beacon up. Nothing so far though, I think I am completely alone here...
Day 8. Today while looking around outside my little hut I found a dead raider, seems he was heading to my hut but froze to death on the way. I didn't burry him, instead I've put him out behind my hut just in case... food supplies have been dwindling fast. Lucklily he had a parka so now I can stay out a little longer without freezing to death.
Day 9. I don't know where all these dead raiders are coming from, by now I got seven of them stacked up behind my hut. I built an extra wall around them so I don't have to look at their corpses every time I walk by. At least one of them had a decent parka so I can stay out as long as I like now, it's a bit sticky with raider goo though...
Day 11. I heard a ship crash this morning and when I arrived at the scene I found berries! Sweet, sweet berries! Seems I don't have to eat... you know what after all.
Day 13. Finally a traide ship passed by, but sadly it was a combat supplier. They bought all the gear I've been looting off the dead raiders I've been finding.
Day 15. Someone called for help today, I told them to come if they wanted even though they were being followed. I tried to rush out to help him but the guy froze to death before I could get him inside. I have no idea how he made it all the way out here with those clothes.
Season 2, Day 1. A bulk trader passed by!! I bought all the steel and wood I could afford, now I am starting construction of hydroponic farms and more heaters!
Season 2, Day 2. A lot of volcanic clouds rolling over today. Looks like we got a volcanic winter coming on. Ah well, how much different can -150C be to -120C.
Season 2, Day 3. Hydroponics are done, I also got two shining new Wind turbines and an extra couple of batteries. I also expaned my hut. However in retrospect I should probably have gotten some food from that bulk trader... my last berries ran out today.
Season 2, Day 5. Been living on raider chow for a few days now and I had a power shortage today which killed off all my potatoes. Will have to be more careful in the future. But on the bright side I found a dead Trumbo on the ice today so that will last me for a while
Season 2, Day 6. I mixed up the trumbo meals with my human meals... Seems I'll be eating surprise meals for a while now.
Season 2, Day 8. I actually got into a fire fight today. Seems one raider actually dressed well enough to make it to my hut. However he was quickly demoralized when he realized all his buddies froze to death on the way here. I shot him in the back as he tried to flee, haha!
Season 2, Day 9. Not much happening today. Mostly lazy day of hauling stuff all over the place. I did have a nice relaxing time watching the sunset from next to Mount Raider (my new name for the pile of raiders behind my house).
Season 2, Day 14. Seems some idiotic raiders have decided to try to siege me. Not a single one of the idiots brought warm clothes, hahaha. They froze to death before they could even construct a single mortar. A few of them tried to flee but not a single one made it out alive. How nice of them to bring me lots of supplies. A bulk goods trader also arrived today, happy day!
Season 2, Day 15. So much to haul... Will be spending a few days hauling now.
Season 3, Day 3. My first potato crop came in today. No time to cook it though, I still got tons of stuff to haul. On the bright side thanks to all the steel I got a few days ago I got enough power production to leave my sun lamp on permanently.
Season 3, Day 5. I was out hauling food today and couldn't stop thinking about how icky this parka full of raider goo is. I've been wearing it for two seasons now, I would have thought I had gotten used to it. Anyway, I blacked out and when I came too I had eaten half my food supply. Luckily my potatoes are growing well so it looks like I won't need to cook up more raider stew.
Season 3, Day 6. A few more cargo pods crashed today. They were full of smokeleaf joints! Woo! I couldn't help myself and smoked one immediately. Right after wards another raid arrived, let's see how far these idiots make... ah never mind already dead.
Season 3, Day 8. MECHANOIDS! Argh, I was not prepared, I am rushing out right now to construct a basic gun turret before they arrive.... I got the turret up *cough* but they blew it up. They got me as well *cough* ... I'm afraid this is the end for me. My only regret is that I couldn't make Mount Raider even bigger.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=835459380
Quote from: Sp0nge on January 05, 2017, 03:39:11 PM
Here is my "goto-steps" when starting on this map:
There's a few things you can do to improve your setup. First of all, solar panels are terrible this far north because of how little sun you get. Wind turbines produce more energy even in the tropics, and this far north they
vastly outproduce solar. Moreover, they still produce energy even when you get eclipses.
Secondly, placing the battery immediately adjacent to the solar panel or wind turbine means that you don't need to use conduits at all, and if you have no conduits you will never get the zzzt event which drains your energy and sets your entire base on fire.
Otherwise, a good guide.
All those solar panels and potatoes growing in hydroponics make my minmax heart cry out in pain :(
And my god, that's over 2000 steel. I curse your good luck.
Sp0nge: that's an excellent intro (other than the solar). There's one more thing you can do to take your start to the next level... while Engie waits to warm up the first time, have her clear all the snow inside the hut. Then have her clear a 1-tile wide path down towards the silver & steel. For industrious Engie, it takes about as long to clear a tile of snow as it does to walk over it six times, so three round trips, saving you a bit of time on your startup, and making it faster to get back in if you accidentally stay out too long. (You don't want to go too crazy with the snow clearing, because then the raiders have an easier time reaching you without freezing)
Does clearing snow actually have any effect? Even if you clear the snow you're still walking on ice which has a 50% move speed.
Quote from: DeathWeasel on January 05, 2017, 04:28:59 PM
Quote from: Sp0nge on January 05, 2017, 03:39:11 PM
Here is my "goto-steps" when starting on this map:
There's a few things you can do to improve your setup. First of all, solar panels are terrible this far north because of how little sun you get. Wind turbines produce more energy even in the tropics, and this far north they vastly outproduce solar. Moreover, they still produce energy even when you get eclipses.
Secondly, placing the battery immediately adjacent to the solar panel or wind turbine means that you don't need to use conduits at all, and if you have no conduits you will never get the zzzt event which drains your energy and sets your entire base on fire.
Otherwise, a good guide.
The reason for not putting the powersource directly onto the battery is for the planning of the second wall, the 1 steel and construction is what i consider to be neglectable in the long run. You cant move batteries without deconstruction and reconstructing right?
As when it goes for solarpanes vs windmills it dont matter as long as its spring/summer. Solar will generate power even during nighttime as when it comes for windturbines they can come to an hault. I went for the more reliable earlygame source, not the high gain, "high" reward route.
After the initial steps researching towards hydro and smelting is a trivial matter, and whatever route you pick after the step i made is kinda merely based on what the storyteller throws at you. I usually never construct anything after the researchbench untill my first "wanderer joins" and first raid. Then i know if im suited to haul slagchunks or not. And i havent looked into materialcosts writing this, merely a response to people dying making theyre first hut :)
If i am, I go for the smeltery first, then comconsole and tradebeacon, if not the other way around. The only constructionpart that I left out on my post is the single wall and roofing.
Imo a general good idea is to construct one wall out of silver (you really gonna need that wood incase a solarflare, or making a butchertable if all events fails towards winter), where you maximize you roofarea for your stockpile.
You could consider what I wrote as the more safer route, less risk = less reward. But it will give you more time (your first escape-pod might aswell be your mother that dies)
Edit: People understimate the micromanagement earlygame :)
You can place the battery adjacent and still leave room for a second wall if you'd like since you can connect your heater or any other thing up to 6 squares away. Even with a wall and a gap for an extra wall, there should be nowhere out of reach of power inside your house. You may think that one steel isn't important, but having your entire wooden hut burn down while a raider prevents your from putting it out when you get that zzt event will make you think otherwise.
Early game, all sources of power are reliable. You will be using so little energy from that one heater that it really doesn't matter what you use. Your battery will be sitting at full power the entire time. When you get your smelter and other things up finally it's going to be heading in to fall or winter, and in winter solar produces such an incredibly tiny trickle of power you wont be able to power any of those fancy new toys you just researched.
It's not that solar is less risk/less reward, it that using solar is needlessly crippling yourself for no gain at all.
Quote from: DeathWeasel on January 05, 2017, 04:42:26 PM
Does clearing snow actually have any effect? Even if you clear the snow you're still walking on ice which has a 50% move speed.
The move speed percentages are a lie. How it actually works is it adds a certain number of ticks to movement, and the % is calculated based on the base human 13 ticks per tile move speed. Ice adds 12 ticks per tile, and then thick snow adds another 12 ticks on top of that, which means instead of 13 ticks, it takes you 37 ticks to move through that tile; clearing the snow will bring it down to 25.
Incidentally, things that affect move speed (e.g. bionics, injuries, or hypothermia) only affect the base 13 ticks, not the added path costs.
Quote from: Sp0nge on January 05, 2017, 04:54:23 PM
As when it goes for solarpanes vs windmills it dont matter as long as its spring/summer. Solar will generate power even during nighttime as when it comes for windturbines they can come to an hault. I went for the more reliable earlygame source, not the high gain, "high" reward route.
Early game, the power demands are so low that the turbine easily charges the battery to full and the battery can power a single heater for days straight. I've never run out of power before getting hydroponics set up, except occasionally on the first night. And even then, charging the battery at 50 watts is enough that Engie can just sleep through it without getting severe hypothermia before the power picks back up.
And batteries can be uninstalled and reinstalled. The cost of the conduit itself is indeed trivial, but the cost of a zzzzt event is easily game ending, so it is very much worth going out of your way to avoid placing any conduit as long as possible.
Quote from: Zhentar on January 05, 2017, 05:15:02 PM
The move speed percentages are a lie. How it actually works is it adds a certain number of ticks to movement, and the % is calculated based on the base human 13 ticks per tile move speed. Ice adds 12 ticks per tile, and then thick snow adds another 12 ticks on top of that, which means instead of 13 ticks, it takes you 37 ticks to move through that tile; clearing the snow will bring it down to 25.
Incidentally, things that affect move speed (e.g. bionics, injuries, or hypothermia) only affect the base 13 ticks, not the added path costs.
Oh man, that's good to know. I wish I had known this in my playthrough, I could have saved myself a lot of travel time.
Don't go crazy clearing too much snow, though. It does snow sometimes. For me it snowed once on year 4 and undid all my snow plowing.
Quote from: DeathWeasel on January 05, 2017, 05:23:05 PM
Quote from: Zhentar on January 05, 2017, 05:15:02 PM
The move speed percentages are a lie. How it actually works is it adds a certain number of ticks to movement, and the % is calculated based on the base human 13 ticks per tile move speed. Ice adds 12 ticks per tile, and then thick snow adds another 12 ticks on top of that, which means instead of 13 ticks, it takes you 37 ticks to move through that tile; clearing the snow will bring it down to 25.
Incidentally, things that affect move speed (e.g. bionics, injuries, or hypothermia) only affect the base 13 ticks, not the added path costs.
Oh man, that's good to know. I wish I had known this in my playthrough, I could have saved myself a lot of travel time.
Don't go crazy clearing too much snow, though. It does snow sometimes. For me it snowed once on year 4 and undid all my snow plowing.
I guess I should left the powergen abit more open. I agree on that wind turbine might be the better route to go thinking about it. However the Zzzt dont bother me. If its earlygame you will have the time to do the micromanagement needed to fix it, I just hate moving stuff that I consider permanent structures. But dont you loose materials deconstructing? Thats why i never place the powersource directly onto the battery, however if you gotta fix alot of Zzzzt`s it really wont matter (I barely get any Zzzz when I play, might just be lucky I guess).
Worst ive had was Engies father die as the first escapepod, her sister mid fall, then she went on a bing taking 4 yayo and 3 flake in a single day, juts to get mechanites the day after. She even went on a rampage during a raid, taking down 3 raiders on her own where I could not controll her at all! The constant breakdowns she had after that was to put it lightly .... horrid. But she is well over all that now, mood back up and running at top.
Snowclearing is certanly something i need to evaluate for my midgame plays, but for earlygame (aka everything that involves building the hut and moving startingmaterials to a safe spot) I consider that part irrelevant.
Deconstructing costs 25% of the resources, but you don't need to deconstruct batteries.
A Zzzzt while Engie is in her hut probably isn't too big of a deal. While she's on the far end of the map hauling something, everything will have burnt to the ground before she can get back.
Quote from: Zhentar on January 05, 2017, 06:14:46 PM
Deconstructing costs 25% of the resources, but you don't need to deconstruct batteries.
A Zzzzt while Engie is in her hut probably isn't too big of a deal. While she's on the far end of the map hauling something, everything will have burnt to the ground before she can get back.
When you can walk across the map to haul, you can also live without power for a while. Ive had a ton of tries on this, and i never had my base burn down due to a elecrtical failure, but i might just been lucky. Ill agree that its safer to build the powersource directly onto the battery, or move the placing of the battery where the walls gonna be in the future. Its easy enough to actually have the battery outside with a roof over it and still power the main small hut you start with
Chasing The Dream
Engie had followed her dream of beeing desolate in a place with no other human beings, because noone was tough enough to live out there. It started out pretty ok, the cold was a bitch, but she lived nicely off the rations. She decided early to build a communication console, "Communication is key", she thought. "Surely some trade ships and traders must pass by from time to time". After she had built the console, she happily called the Northwest Omeedthda Pan-global and asked them to send a caravan her way. "Sorry ma'm, we won't travel to you with wares. Nobody lives out there anyway, so how would we get our money back for the expedition?" "But I live out here! If I don't get food, I won't survive!" "Perhaps you should have thought about that before you moved there?" *click* Other people where wimps, that's what she'd always thought! Ah well, surely a trade ship would come by soon. Surely she hadn't stuck her head in a badger hole again? Silly ol' gramps used to warn her about that. She could still hear his voice in her head "It will be your downfall!" He used to say that every time she visited him, what a broken record he'd been, she smiled insecurely to herself. She felt lonely and, she had to reluctantly admit, a tad bit scared.
Then it happened, a capsule fell from the sky and landed right next to her little shack. She hurried over to see what it was. A small man had fallen out of the capsule, he was unconcious. As she turned him over, she was struck by his uglyness. "Woah, such an ugly person I havn't seen since Suzy in 4th grade! Ah well, he needs my help, so I better get him to the shack. Besides it'll actually be nice with some company around here, for some change. " She carried him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Engie had been college champion in karate and prided herself in beeing a strong woman.
The next day the stranger woke up and presented himself as Igor. She tried to talk to him, but he seemed completely disinterested in her. He kept talking about the fact that he was fucked. "We are fucked." she said. Then he called her a really stupid woman and asked her to get out of his face. He muttered under his breadth that he'd killed bitches like her before, so she might consider to shut the fuck up.
The days went by, they didn't talk much. The food was running out. The mood was not the best, but Engie kept her spirits up meditating. She praised herself for her ability to stay in the moment and appreciate what she had.
Epilogue:
I early decided to roleplay and try to save the lives of people coming in, in pods. The first guy who crashed down from the sky was Engies total opposite, useless in all regards and a psychopathic ugly pyromaniac. I imagined how it would be to live in a 3x3 meter shack on the south pole with such a guy and figured I'd do a small write up. This thing turned into a complete tragedy. First they ate all the raiders, about 7 of them. Then they dug up two guys who'd been buried and ate them too. After a while, the pressure made Engie snap with rage and she attacked and hurt Igor, chasing him out of the shack. He then collapsed and died of hypothermia. Then Engie ate him too. She was all out of food, when a pod dropped down far across the map with a guy. So she tried to collect him, but collapsed of hypothermia on the way back and fell down. The End.
(http://i.imgur.com/NZKZulz.jpg)
Screenshot from after Igor died, before Engies last expedition.
I had a brilliant idea! Test my planned layout in Dev Mode before going through with the whole unable to fix my crippling mistakes.
I feel good about this one. Here it is:
(http://imgur.com/MKDp8hK.png)
But you don't have a heater in your bedroom. Where are you going to stand to warm up when you come in shivering from outside? Your bedroom won't be very warm after you open the doors to go in. At least add an airlock.
Run 5, Day 23:
It's now -126'C outside. Engie can't walk far from the base to collect gear... it looks like the winter is going to involve sitting in the cabin doing nothing for weeks. Just how cold does this planet get?
Run 5, Day 24:
I get a distress call from someone fleeing tribesmen. It's still below -120'C. I invite the party over. I thought they would freeze solid instantly, but surprisingly they're dressed warmly and make it almost to my hut. Just when Engie is about to shoot they decide it's too cold and turn around -- ensuring they freeze to death on the way back. Hilarious :) And now I have some nice parkas!
There already is an airlock there (though now that you mention it I could stick a space between the two doors for free), and it should actually warm up when a pawn walks in. That room stayed about -60C while it was -127C out, which should be plenty by the time I can build a hydroponics room.
If I can ever survive that long. I seem to be getting worse.
Run 7, Day 20: Engie takes a grenade thrown by a raider. Bleeds to death.
Run 8, Day 6: A distress call brings in two wool parkas! But the runner collapses from hypothermia, and the parkas are going to run away with her! Engie runs out to stop one of the parkas from running away, gets shotgunned, punched, and kidnapped herself.
Run N+4. Medicine/disease system strikes again, this time its my fault for not managing frost bite. Caught an infection immunity 10% severity 12%. Run N+5 is next.
Run 5, Day 28:
Winter has begun. It's -136'C outside. I don't have enough steel to build a stove yet, and it's too cold to go outside to haul any more pod slags. Engie might be happy to sit in her warm hut and research but I'm officially too bored to continue. The only real challenge to surviving here is not getting so bored that you do something stupid.
Exploit note: the 'colonist' that died out on the ice was giving Engie a -10 penalty for not being buried, so I dropped a Dumping zone on him and the penalty went away.
Final picture of my base attached (how do you get the inline img thing to work?)
[attachment deleted by admin due to age]
i came up with a similar layout to the one using a nutrient paste dispenser as the lower wall, but because rimworld was a dick i had to remove it seeing as how it used most of my steel, i couldnt finish everything i needed.
so ive got 40 steel and all the items needed for a trader, but obviously, no traders ...
Im playing with the trader spot mod, because im not dealing with traders sitting in my base eating my food lol
Round 4: Day 54, poor Engie has been alone up here for about 2 weeks since her savior died of hypothermia (after graciously tending engie's gunshot wounds from a raid that happened the day before) ... with sensory mechanites and persistent bezerker rages so i havnt exactly been doing alot, shes either been asleep or raging most of the time because she also lost her brother last season, i have been eating dead bodies since day 30, on the upside she has a thermal tolerance of -148, so no hypothermia for me.
Mana from heaven comes today in the form of a pirate siege, food, materials and other stuff ... assuming i can get out there without engie having another break and passing out in the field, i might actually get somewhere now - i seriously cannot believe how lucky ive been ... she snapped out of several breaks just in time to defend her shack and burgeoning stash of fo... i mean bodies.
After my first run documented on page eight (https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=28853.msg294109#msg294109), I tried a few more tries as well last night. All of them ended with me catching the plague and dying off. I don't think I appreciated enough how lucky it was to have 24 penoxycyline come down in cargo pods during the first season of my last run.
Now I decided the next run I make as soon as that bulk trader comes around in addition to steel and wood I will be buying as much penoxycyline (at least 10) as I can. Those diseases are certain death if you are playing as a lone survivor and taking in someone else early on isn't really an option due to space / food limitations.
I also found that the lack of a good parka that allows you to stay outside as long as you want even in -150C made the challenge really difficult. I tried letting raiders freeze to death which resulted in the ones with good parkas running off before they even got cold, with me chasing after them with a movement speed debuff from the cold. In the end they all escaped and I was stuck with a really bad parka. Even the traders couldn't help, either they didn't have any good parkas or they had good parkas that cost way too much silver.
I think if I could change anything about this challenge though I would change the Hard Worker trait to either Psychopath/Cannibal (might make it too easy) or Jogger/Fast Walker. Considering after the first season 80% of my time was spent hauling, being able to move faster would be a lot more beneficial than Hard Worker.
Another thing I would like to see is that you maybe give 3 penoxycyline with the starting equipment. Really no chance when you get plague early on before you even had a chance to recruit anyone or do orbital trade. At least 3 of them would give you a one season buffer from plague.
Other than that really fun scenario, will be playing it over the weekend to try to beat it.
PS. Is it cheating to assemble enough to make a caravan and move somewhere warmer?
So attempts 4 & 5 met with a sticky end ...
In attempt 4, day 54, i should of just let them all die of hypothermia because engie got into weapons range and then proceeded to spend 60 seconds puking on the spot, just puking, she gets hit once in that time and goes bezerk, tries to close to melee range and is downed, game over.
Attempt 5 day 20, oh i hate scythers ... charge rifles are bad enough, but being told i have a 0.53% chance of being hit and my guy is shooting at a 45% hit chance with no enemy cover, there is a reason i call charge guns "bulls*it rifles" ... while i killed them both, engie inherited an infection in her lung and since infections untended progress faster than the sleeping pawn, i decided i wasnt going to waste my time.
Hello Rimworld community!
I have played Rimworld for a while but this is my first post here. I have to say that this sea ice challenge really got me hooked ;-)
Anyway, here comes the story of a True Love. The True Love between Engie and Steven which can withstand even -144C outside.
Engie crashes on a planet. In the middle of nowhere. Alone, forlorn and freezing. She quickly sets to construct a shack (out of silver which she cannot eat or burn). She makes a tiny shack, room enough only for a research bench, a sleeping spot and a fire spot (which transforms to a heater the next day). She also builds a wind turbine, orbital trade beacon and a comms console. The first few days she spends inside researching hydroponics and if she gets bored constructing and deconstructing graves in her tiny house.
Then, on the 6th day something unexpected and wonderful happens! Steven, Engie's fiancee finds her! He crossed the whole frozen world just to get to his only true love!
He is wearing a cloth parka and a muffolo tuque and can withstand -68C outside. But otherwise he has no clothes on.
The same day the first raider arrives. He makes it almost to the shack but Engie and Steven succeed in defeating him. He goes down but he is not dead yet! So, Engie quickly strips him of his camelhair parka and his synthread pants. Now, Engie can withstand -108C outside and both lovers can start making plans about their survival.
The heavens seem to smile on such a wonderful love! A few ship chunks crash nearby and 4 traders (one of each sort) arrive during the summer and the first half of the fall season. The bulk goods trader delivers steel, wood and marble. The exotic good trader agrees to take the glitterworld medicine.
Engie expands the hut and builds a normal wooden bed, and a room for hydroponics. More resources like gold and granite and ship chunks rain from the heaven.
Then, in the middle of the fall, Engie and Steven decide to marry! That is +70 mood boost! Now, they can eat raw corpses without even stripping them and remain happy!
Survivors in escape pods fall from the heaven, Engie and Steven have only eyes for each other and do not want any intruders on their happiness. One of the survivors is Engie's sister, Annie, but she has no chance to make it through and dies... Engie grieves the loss of her sister but is still happy to be married to Steven. The shack grows bigger and now they have a kitchen with an electric stove, an excellent marble table and two good wooden chairs. They have a marble floor in their bedroom and a butchering table just outside. Steven stays mostly inside doing research, cleaning, growing rice and cooking and Engie works outside, hauling stuff, building etc.
Then a first shock arrives. Engie gets the plague. Steven does not sleep or eat anymore and tends to his beloved wife. She barely makes it through and develops the immunity when the infection spreads to 96%. But she makes it through and the couple is happy once again.
More raiders arrive, most of them collapse before they can even make it to the hut. But in the middle of the winter, a second shock is coming. Engie gets a shot from a sniper rifle and her torso is a bloody mess with 1 out of 40 hitpoints. Steven kills the raider and carries Engie to the bed again. She survives the bad wound without the infection and without any scars.
The winter approaches the end and a second bulk goods trader arrive. Now Engie and Steven have enough steel to make a smelter to get a small but steady steel supply out of weapons, steel slug chunks etc. And oh wonder! A rare thrumbo wanders into the area and collapses to hypothermia just before the doors of Engie's and Steven's house!
By the end of the spring, Engie and Steven both have sniper rifles, a supply of rice from hydroponics, thrumbo meat in storage and a decent house. Now they can start making proper defences and see what the remainder of the spring and the summer will bring.
[attachment deleted by admin due to age]
Attempt 10, Day 14.
Traders, traders everywhere ... no seriously, firstly visited by a pirate trader and then before they even leave orbit, a bulk goods trader shows up ... talk about lucky, right? minor frostbites dont hold me back and the pirate sells me an awful camelhair parka ... but its -112C worth of tolerance, so i cant complain...
My attempts to save runners have not met with success and thus far several raids have come close to making melee range with engie, who has proved to be quite the crack shot ... though a go-juice problem may be on the horizon, hopefully cass decides to be nice to me because all i have is 2 units.
And i havnt even had to make bits of corpses yet ... im just waiting for vengeful cass to come back...
Quote from: Beider on January 06, 2017, 05:02:14 AM
I think if I could change anything about this challenge though I would change the Hard Worker trait to either Psychopath/Cannibal (might make it too easy) or Jogger/Fast Walker. Considering after the first season 80% of my time was spent hauling, being able to move faster would be a lot more beneficial than Hard Worker.
Iron-Willed is probably the one you'd want to replace, actually. Without any traits that reduce the break threshold, it can only increase the threshold by +4, so it doesn't actually do all that much for Engie.
Ill be streaming (https://www.twitch.tv/craft_tv) my attempts (its ofc gona be several) tonight. Just had a failed run where 10(?) raiders attacked with the following bloodloss during the fight that happend. Oh well, cant always get lucky :P
Its me craft your faithful watcher. Been fun so far!
Quote from: iconeo on January 06, 2017, 05:11:30 PM
Its me craft your faithful watcher. Been fun so far!
Hey tnx! Im not the best of commentators, but im glad your enjoying your stay!
So i planned to stop the stream, play some other game since nothing happend. Everything was just repeating, then this happend:
(http://i.imgur.com/eDtgbGv.jpg)
Shortcut and my base burned down! I stopped the stream after i got the fire out, what happends next will be on the stream again tomorrow!
As an aside, I remember seeing Rhadamant's first video, and in that, he tried to perform some sort of field operation on a downed mechanoid twice before it died.
What was that? I've never seen such an option on a downed mechanoid, and I'm interested in whatever rewards I might be missing out on.
You can modify downed mechs, but not killed, thats what he did.
That would be the remove scyther blade modification. If it succeeds, then you'll get a scyther blade part that can be installed on colonists (replacing their arm), or sold for pretty good money to exotic goods traders.
Oh, I see. I suppose I just haven't been lucky finding modifications on mechanoids. Admittedly, I've only started looking since watching the video.
Also, Rip Engie XVIII. She caught the plague with nobody to heal her on day 88.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/a4029aba490342d69975dd97f5859e8c.png)
It's available on all downed (not dead) Scythers, as long as their arms didn't get destroyed.
Quote from: Zhentar on January 06, 2017, 09:51:06 PM
It's available on all downed (not dead) Scythers, as long as their arms didn't get destroyed.
Then something is odd. I've never seen such an ... oh derp.
I need to click "health" and "operate", don't I? Geez. Learn something new every day.
--
Run 19Day 12: Everything seems to be going well. I'll butcher some humans while I don't have any notable negative moods.
Day 13: Lover drops from an escape pod. 5 days of major break risk. Thanks, Cassandra!
Day 19: Solar flare disrupts heat, and no wool parkas have dropped. Hypothermia gets to serious before the flare wears off.
RIP Engie XIX - Cause of death : Inability to pour hydrogen peroxide on her own wounds.
I finally made it on about my 7th try.
In this run Engie even got married,
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=837124548
Since everyone was so happy after the wedding I figured this was a good time for Engie to butcher all the corpses in storage,
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=837126727
Happy Honeymoon Engie!
And here is a final shot of the base (disregard the dead animals, a trader passed by so decided to blow my 20k silver on animals and watch them die in the cold.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=837230263
Finally steel has struck flint and a spark has emerged!
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/10a5d62d637045d8a5bc315892a98e31.png)
Just sitting pretty until my first shipment of resources... I chose to spend most of the remaining wood on flooring to negate the 'awful bedroom' penalty, rather than build a quarter of the initial wall around the stockpile
Update: Staggeringly ugly wanderer with Chem Fascination, woop! Useless too, so no remorse putting him down at all!
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/2fc71fa2e2194fe88062979ed94814a7.png)
Day 9: Solar flare strikes. Tore down a couple of wood wall sections and replaced with some steel left over from ship chunk deconstruction so I had enough wood to build a campfire. Room's around -10°C, Engie's minimum comfortable temperature is -60°C
(https://s27.postimg.org/yed2ltohv/rimworld6.png)
And here we go! The uranium was a real bitch to get so it took a while to build the ship. Very fun challenge, it requires getting the best out of the mechanics. I lost count of how many times Engie died too the cold, as well as how many times she rushed outside to strip crashed survivors.
My printscreen key is broken so I had to use the visual keyboard to take the screenshot so the resolution is pretty lame. Sorry about that, the year is 5508.
And yes Doug is staying in his cell.
So as I said before I'm using a few mods: camping stuff, set-up camp, Dubs Rimkit, Dubs Skylight, and Chemfuel Generator. As I have a camping mod, I like to start with camping stuff... and I end up going into dev mode giving me the camping stuff(and the medkit), chemfuels then feeling the need to balancing stuff out deleting some wood,steel and silver. I decided to save over the save and rename it, then upload it encase someone else was interested in the same....
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B485pubk5LKdUkZrdGV2ZWtYdUk/view?usp=sharing (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B485pubk5LKdUkZrdGV2ZWtYdUk/view?usp=sharing)
Quote from: Sola on January 06, 2017, 10:04:51 PM
Then something is odd. I've never seen such an ... oh derp.
I need to click "health" and "operate", don't I? Geez. Learn something new every day.
And *I* just learned something new -- there's a "shut down" option there to turn off incapacitated mechanoids. Well whaddya know! I don't have to have my colonists endlessly punch or shoot centipedes once they're downed... I can just click them off and carry them to the table. Damn!
So when you fight of 2 raids almost instantly killing them all, this happends ...
(http://i.imgur.com/6ksL9Oc.jpg)
And now, Run 20!
Even now, it blows my mind that Rhadamant just seemed to have everything go right for him on his first try.
Two fail-to-constructs on first room gives Engie frostbite.
It gets infected, she dies.
Rip Engie XX - Cause of death: 1% chance of failure is a lot higher than it seems
Run 21!
Everything goes well Both the pop idol pirate and sparkles are raiders this time. I make it to day 33 (no traders yet) when Zzzt! happens. ...While I'm halfway across the map hauling a mechanoid back. Base gets destroyed.
RIP Engie XXI - Cause of death, starvation.
Run 22!
Everything's starting nicely. Given that my food ran out on my last good run, I'll forbid the survival meals until food is just under 0.1, then let her eat. It's a bit more micromanagement, but it'll stretch my food supplies a bit longer.
..Unfortunately, that got boring fast. First merchant that comes by is on day 21, and it's a pirate. I have enough synthread and hyperweave from random spacers to pick up peroxycilline and some more silver. Just gotta get that bulk trader now.
Day 24: Got a call for help from a 94 year old incapable of everything with go-juice addiction and a staggering movement speed of 45%. I accept the call for help, because I'm a chump like that. She makes it six steps to the base before mental break, and the pirates kidnap her.
Day 28: And then a poison ship appears. I really need a better sniper rifle for this. Also, Remember that old frail addict I was talking about? It appears as if the people that kidnapped her are sick of her too, and try to sell her back to me for 333 silver. Naturally, I decline. Engie is already eating raw thrumbo meat, I don't need another leech tapping that out.
Day 29: They try to sell her back to me again. This time for 292 silver.
Day 34: Out of food again. Resorting to raw cannibalism. Maybe next time I'll hang the comms console and go for the slower, but more reliable weapons disassembly bench.
Day 38: Still no bulk goods trader. Found a couple simple meals for a very temporary fix to my starvation problem. Then this happened.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/95dd13f00ff7429b8656e9665a48e78e.png)
Exotic trader has a good hospital bed, which I buy.
And a megascreen teevee. BECAUSE WHY NOT.
Day 39: "PLEASE take your worthless-ass colonist back!" 219 silver. I say no again. We'll see how much they offer me to take her back :p
Day 40: "How about 341 silver? Will you give us 341 silver for her?"
Day 41: This bed gives great comfort, and is doing wonders for Engie's m... "HOW ABOUT 285 SILVERS?" ...wonders for Engie's mood.
Day 45: Guy with a triple rocket launcher. I know he's coming, though. He takes aim, i run away, he destroys a couple walls. I use some of my very limited steel to repair it after repelling the invaders.
Day 49:
THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY!
Cargo pods with enough food and mood booster to last half a year
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/61199cf69dc34b0cbff9b2ae892a2714.png)
Day 53: Finally smelted enough steel to make a mechanoid disassembly station. Unfortunately, so much time was spent running around, I never finished machining tech. Oh well! Got some downtime with those fine meals that just dropped outta the sky.
Day 59: Almost took an entire year, but a bulk goods trader finally showed up.
Buy all the steel, wood, and marble blocks they have, and *still* have 8000 silver left over.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/a3d2443e6dce4c868389490110945bc4.png)
Please remember that there is no need to suffer a "zzzt" in your first year. Put the battery adjacent to the windmill. Put everything else electrical nearby. No conduits needed whatsoever until you expand beyond your initial hut.
Quote from: Sola on January 08, 2017, 05:55:42 PM
Day 38: Still no bulk goods trader. Found a couple simple meals for a very temporary fix to my starvation problem. Then this happened.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/95dd13f00ff7429b8656e9665a48e78e.png)
Exotic trader has a good hospital bed, which I buy.
And a megascreen teevee. BECAUSE WHY NOT.
protip: Deconstructed grand sculptures yield 195 material, large 101, and small 52. In my latest game I got about 300 steel & wood and 200 stone of off an exotic goods trader by buying their low quality statues.
Then I got killed by bleeding to death after a spring melee raid again. I even had a second pawn this time, but he couldn't doctor :(
I got Sparkles as my second pawn. like.. super lucky. Normally, she's one of the first that appears, and dies because I can't support her. Downside is that she can't grow or cook, and her shooting is crap, but she's also the best weaponsmith and tailor you can ask for.
Day 83: Second bulk goods trader. Sadly, the textiles were crap, but with the money made from selling all the plasteel, I picked up another healthy portion of steel, wood, meals, meat, and stone, and still have over 10,000 silver left. Beauty problems are gone, flammability problems are also done.
Day 88: Frail, bad back, dementia wanderer joins. She gives her muffalo parka to Sparkles and dies.
Day 107: Still just Engie and Sparkles. A second poison ship dropped, giving up a fair bit of steel and components, but I had to drop four scythers for it.
run 1: didn't totally understand initial constructing minutiae. Had the right size hut and everything, but built in the wrong order with inefficient trips. Frostbite, and didn't feel like sitting in bed first few days.
run 2: set up properly.
Day 4, killed a raider for a cloth tuque and deerhide parka (i say killed...i mean that he wandered up and died at my door).
Day 9, after several more wanderers and a few raids (who keep "preparing for a while" so they start their trek towards me going into serious hypo), i finish smelting research, build a bench, and get a drop of steel!
Steel is too far away, i grab one load and get frostbite...spend an extra day in bed recovering, but i'm able to get a comm console and beacon built.
Day 28: packaged meals running out (using shurps method of waiting to eat....if i pick up a meal when i'm at 0.4% nutrition, i can finish the meal without hitting starving, and my food lasts twice as long). But i get a bulk goods trader. buy 250 wood, 850 steel, and 55 nutruent paste meals.
Day 31: amidst building an ambitious hydroponics room, i get sappers, they kill a wind turbine and set me on fire....spending some days healing.
Day 33: Flu....bedridden
Day 34: sensory mechanites....shit...
Day 36: pain is at intense....while heading back outside to finish building the wind turbine and hydro room, i hit 33% hypothermia, which is enough to cause me enough pain to fall over when added on to the crazy sensory mechanites penalty....RIP Engie.
Learned things: early on, like the first raider or wanderer or two, removing a lung is doable, and you can live with the mood penalty...once you get to 4x i butchered, it gets to be a bit much. I had very few mood difficulties and got lucky with no shits hitting engie, BUT every time a good geared pawn entered the map as part of a raid, their friends would die and they left before i could take them down. There were also a LOT of dead pawns and orbital drops around the edges of the map...which i couldn't reach...the map size is a real liability. Time to keep trying.
Run 3, much better:
Its currently 2nd of fall first year, so 15 days in. made a 5x3 start, got frostbite, but survived with no penalty. I like this new size...lets me do 2 graves at once, minimizing researching ticks when i'm focusing on the graves. and i can fit in a bed, research table, heater (1 is enough), and a 3x1 crafting station of any type.
Some early raiders had cloth parka & tuque, above 50% and stripped before dying. Later i nabbed a camelhair parka and megasloth tuque, but both are "D" and the parka is 19%, so I've been managing mood by wearing them only to go out for extended time. Otherwise I keep the good gear on to offset the butchered people.
No traders yet, but I'm uninjured, just killed a Thrumbo, had 4 ship chunks land nearby, had about 150 berries land nearby, salvaged a good LMG 88% and a masterwork great bow 100% for use in specific fighting situations. Just need a trader now and I'll be in great shape....should have food for nearly a year (starvation-level feeding conserves the packaged meals, and the Thrumbo was...quite chubby) before having to resort to cannibalism, and the goods i've salvaged means I can make some good silver off any kind of trader...which i can build with in a pinch.
Update, 12th of fall...still no traders, but 3 more ship chunks, again nearby, and now I have a smelter and am slowly gaining metal. Wanderer joined, took off his 100% good camelhair parka and hung out near the butcher table...no more tattered mood penalty!
2 windmills, 2 batteries, and stocking up so i can start an ambitious hydroponics room as soon as i get a trader so i can build the walls...
Run 21 Cont'd.
Day 111: Mechanoid raid drops right on top of me. Three scythers. Sparkles loses a foot. Fortunately, I don't keep her around for her amazing hauling capabilities.
Day 122: Another mechanoid invasion. I have enough plasteel to buy whatever I like now. Got six turrets, with the capability to build many more. Also bought a bionic leg, but I'm reluctant to try and put it on Sparkles until I get a third pawn. the chance of death is way too high to risk.
Day 124: Got a guy with 10 medicine and an interest, but had to fight off a horde of tribals for it. Looks like Sparkles is gonna get that bionic leg she always wanted! ...as soon as everyone heals up. Maybe 6 turrets isn't enough.
Day 135: All right. Everything's all cleaned up. Bodies are buried, Sparkles finished her food binge. Medical bed, 10 doctor, glitterworld medicine. Not gonna get much better than this. Time to risk it...
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/5c474f02d74942c6a77d9a508c4748f4.png)
JACKPOT! Sparkles is back online! ...Too bad she's a prosthophobe, but it's totally worth it to have her moving 2.5x faster than she was.
Day 136. 1 scyther and 3 centipedes. Three snipers easily take out the scyther before it even gets into turret range, then they kite the centipedes back to the base. The two centipedes that live long enough attack the plasteel turrets and get shot down by the team of long distance shooters. More components and plasteel! Yay!
Also, 7 scyther blades. Does anyone buy these?
Day 143: Sparkles and Ben are now lovers. I splurge the gold to get 'em a royal bed, and it comes out superior. That should offset Ben's "lover has died" and Sparkles' prosthophobe debuffs a bit.
...Really. Thanks, RNG!
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/76f58d7db6b445099b4fe21a142cde4b.png)
A lot of downtime. Like.. Colonists are idle downtime. Sparkles burns through all the leather that drops making parkas to get her crafting to 17. A combat supplier has a bionic arm, but I'm gonna keep that around until I need it (failure rate is scary stuff). I keep getting more resources than I ever need, 20k silver and a couple silver beds for luls. While waiting for components to arrive, a siege happens. Hypothermia takes care of that, but I send out the snipers just to get their shooting level up. This is enough components to make a hi-tech bench. Now I just gotta make a multi analyzer and component assembly, and I can go back to worrying about steel like God intended.
Also, Sparkles and Ben are engaged. Once they get married, I'm gonna dig up every single person I killed and turn 'em into human sausage.
My Sea Ice Community Challenge is now over. I've constructed a ship and launched into space with two additional colonists I've met on my journey. It took 249 days of living on an Sea Ice, but , alas, my efforts in this challenge have come to a close. Here's the entire Let's Play, start to finish.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHqSuWJSw8SBSI3wQDmg3C4LBoYWAOh0o
Quote from: Sola on January 10, 2017, 05:25:33 PM
Also, 7 scyther blades. Does anyone buy these?
A combat supplier has a bionic arm, but I'm gonna keep that around until I need it (failure rate is scary stuff).
Exotic Goods traders buy scyther blades.
If your doctor has a 70% or better surgery success chance in their info screen (level 6 or 7, IIRC, assuming no reduced capacities), then bionics surgery with glitterworld medicine has a 0% failure rate.
0% failure rate? I could have sworn I had a bad time recently in another save with a high skill doctor and glitterworld. Maybe I forgot to unforbid it and he tried it with herbal? In any case, thanks for the reassurance. Engie's gonna be getting that arm now. 17 construction and 11 shooting would really like that enhanced manipulation.
Day 150: Bob and Sparkles get married! Time to butcher me some humans!
Day 152: A wanderer joins. burning passion in shooting, but can't do much else. Can always use another shooter! Unfortunately, I don't have any more wool parkas to put her in, so she's gonna be idle in the greenhouse until I find something for her to wear. Fourth colonist get!
Day 161: Psychic ship, and I have three snipers with enough cold weather gear to survive the assault. This should be fun! Components have been my limiting factor for a while now. Here's hoping this pans out.
Day 169:Component assembly bench research finished, but nowhere near enough components to make the bench itself. Haven't seen a single trade ship in this session, and my stockpiles are getting super full.
-8000 human meat
-2000 human leather
-Sparkles with 18 crafting skill, gettin' to work on said leather.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/32c431b1a1bc483c9d5d0078e01e2c30.png)
Whenever a trade ship comes by, I'm set. I'll even be able to survive off human meals for a while, due to the small penalty of cooked cannibalism.
Day 173: A tribal invasion. Easily thwarted by the defense I have. A host a plasteel turrets with snipers behind them, and a stockpile of charge rifles to swap out to when they get too close. Two wool parkas drop off NOT dead men. Super lucky for me. Inessa puts one on, and the fourth goes forbidden in the corner of Engie's room. if I get a fifth colonist, I'll be okay.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/d17af5f07f094653b5088805921237b0.png)
Day 180: Year 3. Ship research begins, not that I have any intention of leaving. Haven't seen a trade ship since I started this session. Two Summer Thrumbos, but they're no match for the team of crackshots. Snipe one, it gets revenge, swap out to charge rifles, rifles+turrets kill it, repeat on second Thrumbo. Tons of meat to make fine meals with.
Day 183: While clearing out a poison ship, I realize the RNG played a practical joke on me. During a solar flare, a bulk goods trader entered comms range. Since the electrical equipment wasn't working, I did not know this had happened. After the flare ended, I get the message today that the bulk goods trader has LEFT comms range. **** move, Cassandra.
Day 187: A mechanoid invasion of 4 centipede and 2 scyther gets me enough components to make my component assembly bench, and that'll put Sparkles at 20 crafting for the rest of the game.
Day 193: It never ends. Mechanoid drop pods right on my face, Inessa gets her eye shot out, my greenhouse gets eviscerated, and while I'm recovering from all that, Zzzt! with only two people capable of putting out fires. I'll survive, but geez, Cassandra really has it in for me ever since I said "I have this game won" :p
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/ff121aa7707549778d308740369c1904.png)
You can do it! I made an account JUST so I can reply how I do on the challenge, this weekend..
Day 194: Finally got a trade ship. A combat supplier. Pick up a bionic arm and hook it to the doctor, as well as a handful of components. got 21,000 silver now. Engie's got 6 medicine and a bionic arm. How bad could this go, right?
Day 199: When it rains, it pours. Pirate merchant. Too bad the people they have for sale aren't that great.
My run #3 lost in Spring of (the end of) year 1 by a misunderstanding.
Tribal raiders came, got to me getting into serious hypo. Decided to "steal what they can and leave" so i exit my hut to try to down the muffalo tuque raider. Turns out they hadn't QUITE decided to just steal and go....1.4% chance to hit from hypothermia and injured tribal sees a pila hit Engie thru the HEART...dead in a single shot...
done with this challenge for a while...gonna mess about with the "set up camp" and "tents & sleeping bags" mods to do a completely nomadic game.
So I'm thinking of giving this another try... but... I'm concerned about the trade situation. Steel is the critical resource. My previous try ended because it got too cold to harvest drop pods before I was able to build my stove to cook frozen meat bags. But I didn't bother with a trade console; instead I went straight to smelting.
How hard is it to get a bulk goods trader to give you enough steel to set up a stove and second heater before winter hits? Once I have those I'm sure Engie can survive on cooked human meat until spring rolls around...
Quote from: Shurp on January 12, 2017, 07:28:39 PM
So I'm thinking of giving this another try... but... I'm concerned about the trade situation. Steel is the critical resource. My previous try ended because it got too cold to harvest drop pods before I was able to build my stove to cook frozen meat bags. But I didn't bother with a trade console; instead I went straight to smelting.
How hard is it to get a bulk goods trader to give you enough steel to set up a stove and second heater before winter hits? Once I have those I'm sure Engie can survive on cooked human meat until spring rolls around...
It's all luck. Not sure about the numbers, but it's possible to go *years* without a single bulk goods trader. If you do get one, however, that's 900-1200 steel right there.
Run 21 - Continued!Day 210: Zzzt! takes out my component assembly bench. What a sick joke. "Oh, you're waiting on components? Let's force you to build another 20 component bench! TR0L0L0L0!"
Day 212: Combat supplier, and they have a bionic eye. That'll fix up Inessa's shot-out-eye problem. It's also my last glitterworld medicine, so I'm gonna need to find more of that.
Based God Sparkles keepin' me afloat in the silver category, too.
Day 215: Going after a poison ship. Engie's LEFT ARM gets shattered, so she's relying solely on her one right bionic arm to get stuff done. 70% manipulation is not terribad, but I should still consider disabling hauling on her.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/151b7831e9f5455c9ed25c5a9f556239.png)
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/fbe72e76789843f182f229947c713a56.png)
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Day 230: Zzzt! Happens on a stone wall, so nothing explodes, but all my rice/cotton plants die, because batteries.
Day 231: Toxic Fallout. No big deal. Every bit of my base that isn't generating power is roofed. Aaaand I just realize I have a spare bionic arm just laying around to get Engie back up to par. Let's see... Ben's at 11 medical, 120 manipulation, a medical bed, and regular medicine. Uh... I
think that's over 100%. Let's blow it and see.
Word.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/913e064574f9424fba748e0408cdc5a0.png)
Day 233: A siege! How cute! I was *just* thinking I needed more components!
Day 235: Mechanoids. Business as usual, until a scyther decides "0.86% chance to hit? Yeah, I got this mess." One friggin' shot. Engie's slowly becoming fully bionic.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/edd69279a8cd4cd3acb1393ef9c4e7a8.png)
Day 240: Welcome to year 4. I haven't seen a bulk goods trader since.. Day 59, I think? There should probably be some sort of tech to increase the frequency at which trade ships appear (increased comms range, perhaps?)
Day 243: Bulk goods trader comes, toxic fallout subsides, and a poison ship gives me more plasteel/steel/components. Can't complain. 2500 stone, 1100 steel, 900 wood lets me expand the base and reconstruct workshops to be placed in areas such that i no longer suffer bad temperature penalties.
Before -
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/205a2178aa8c4651bc4cc3dfa6323144.png)
After - Would have been faster if my constructor hadn't gone and had her leg shot up, and I didn't have two things breaking down every day.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/195966a242fb442a97f01e53ae5608d6.png)
I took a different approach. After settling in and getting some clothes I left on day 12. I was about a third of the way to the ship when my game crashes, says it can't load map, and nothing. I was about to attack my 3rd or 4th raider camp for supplies. Is there any way I can salvage the save file?
I was able to get my file working but...
12th day of Summer, 5500
I decide to leave camp and head East.
2nd of Fall, 5500
Attacking Dragonfly Bourough. Stole food and ran. On my way to Vehadville.
6th of Fall, 5500
Vehadville. Sold all my gold and bought as many meals as I could. Oh, and some chocolate. Headed Northeast now.
Met some traders long the way. I only had 3 silver...
11th of Fall, 5500
Purple Gorar. I 'attacked' some compacted machinery and left.
13th of Fall, 5500
Soldiers Community. I take all the flake, eat a meal, and grab some compacted machinery and head out before being discovered. North I go.
1st of Winter, 5500
I get attacked by an elephant and get hit once. I must find shelter.
2nd of Winter, 5500
I find a location with an ancient danger and I risk all. I am wounded in the ensuing battle but Emmie joins as were fighting. I survive the fight only to have Emmie succumb to frostbite moments before being able to treat me. I die.
Quote from: Sola on January 12, 2017, 08:03:00 PM
Quote from: Shurp on January 12, 2017, 07:28:39 PM
So I'm thinking of giving this another try... but... I'm concerned about the trade situation. Steel is the critical resource. My previous try ended because it got too cold to harvest drop pods before I was able to build my stove to cook frozen meat bags. But I didn't bother with a trade console; instead I went straight to smelting.
How hard is it to get a bulk goods trader to give you enough steel to set up a stove and second heater before winter hits? Once I have those I'm sure Engie can survive on cooked human meat until spring rolls around...
Before -
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/205a2178aa8c4651bc4cc3dfa6323144.png)
After - Would have been faster if my constructor hadn't gone and had her leg shot up, and I didn't have two things breaking down every day.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/195966a242fb442a97f01e53ae5608d6.png)
damn thats a good looking base!
Run 21 cont
Day 259: That feel when...
Forever between traders, and suddenly I get this awesomeness?
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/dbeac96f7aba4f16a588e23284872a83.png)
39 components
2 glitterworld medicine
1 bionic eye
1 bionic leg
35 Waekup (fifth member is addicted to the stuff)
And it all costs a total of 400 silver, thanks to Thrumbo horns. Wouldn't have cost a thing if I kept Sparkles on tailoring that human leather and thrumbo fur.
Day 265: Franklin overdoses. Doesn't die, but if this becomes a habit, he might become Ben's guinea pig for denture implanting and removals.
Day 266: Another bulk goods trader. I only managed one parka since the last ship. Pick up a ton of steel, stone, wood, and meat, sell off the human meat lavish meals and raw human sausage, and end up with 22,000 silver remaining.
Day 268: Going after a poison ship with 5. Scythers are always a pain in the butt. Inessa's having a bad time as a result of said scythers.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/a450ce69b2ec4f79ad733e0a9b83ee8e.png)
Whoa. completely forgot that humerus was arm bone. I misread it as femur. Oh well. Inessa has a neat peg leg to go with her 50% manipulation!
Day 271: A wanderer joins! ... Yeah. You can drop you clothes off here and hang out by the graveyard.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/9a93d54f920e416a880e61def99632a5.png)
Engie and Inessa catch the plague, but I've got a healthy amount of medicine and penoxycylline.
Franklin keeps going major break risky on me. Rebuffed by (married) Sparkles 3x, rebuffed by Engie 1x, refusing to eat at a table when it's located close to the meal stockpile. He might have to get Old Yeller'd.
Day 280: Franklin goes on a food binge, and a combat supplier shows up, selling bionic eye and joywire. I have decided Franklin can have a joywire. Once again, Sparkles' spectacular ability to turn human flesh into high fashion makes sure this trade offers a net gain of silver.
Franklin, however, did not agree with the surgery. 12 medicine, 140 sight, 120 manipulation, conventional medicine, and that adds up to a catastrophic failure by Ben! Not too hung up on it, though. Franklin was a liability.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/09131b1c3c9a459a8b483e445f47d5ea.png)
Oh yeah. forgot Franklin was Inessa's brother. I guess that's half a year of break risks. Oh well. If she could stop eating off the freakin' ground, though, that'd be super.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/c856b1dd07fd485186d8b60431a7eed0.png)
Day 282: DUDE?!
Ben, the colony's doctor, is gettin' a leg over with Engie. He had to work his butt off to get Sparkles to agree to him in the first place, and there are guys that would give their left nut to be with someone that can singlehandedly sew the world's most comfortable quilt in a day with one hand, while assembling legendary sniper rifles with the other hand, and he throws it all away for another flavor of vagina. *HISS!* *CLAW!* *RAGE!*
Shame on Engie, too. Breaking the cardinal rule of "Bros before Hos".
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/d70719006e104959853021b6fc966557.png)
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/5e1d7e42defb497aba0947890cd78135.png)
Day 287: Sappers set my silver walls on fire, which caused a ton of batteries and hydroponics to explode. I have two people able to put out fires, and they are not doing a great job of it. This is why you always wait for the stone :(
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/0a22195c3dc545f89d246757b6233233.png)
Day 291: Exotic goods trader comes to replenish the components that burned in the Great Fire of '05. Sparkles continues to MVP the heck out of this run for me.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/e30367786e4443f89252da7c57db773e.png)
Day 292: Ben breaks up with his girl-on-the-side Engie. Nice boat, buddy.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/1608720b225344caa50c6aa53ff9edbe.png)
Day 307: mechanoids drop right into my workshop. EMP grenades, autodoors, and charge rifles make short work of that, though. Ben loses an ear in the process. Serves him right. Screw that guy.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/77210b6464004d069c175360c64ed18c.png)
Bionic eyes don't improve surgery success chance in A16. So you were at 68.5% success rate, and with brain surgery, a ~75% chance that failures would be fatal.
Quote from: Zhentar on January 13, 2017, 11:13:14 PM
Bionic eyes don't improve surgery success chance in A16. So you were at 68.5% success rate, and with brain surgery, a ~75% chance that failures would be fatal.
I thought my success rate was much higher than that, for some reason.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/916c9adf5a2e42c9a96b7fd7e29ccde9.png)
I did not know about the eyes not increasing surgery success rate. I'd have given them to a shooter instead. Oh well. Increased manipulation still has 40% effect, doesn't it? 103(base)*0.7(medicine)*1.08(manipulation) is pushing 80%, and a 75% fatality rate on brain operations means he still only had a 15% chance to die.
Frankly, he was asking for it.
Yeah, sight not affecting surgery past 100% efficiency was unfortunately removed in Alpha 16... I generally just have my surgeons pop a bottle of go-juice for that slight consciousness improvement, then get to work; it's worked well for me so far.
The 103% already included the bonus from manipulation. I did mess up the calculation a bit though, since that comes out to about a 72% success chance.
Day 324: Zzzt is the most annoying random event in the game when you only have two guys that can put out fires.
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/3ff86832332746a8b5471b89cc94a229.png)
Cost me about 100 simple meals, but it's not like I'm short on food. The inconvenience of it is what's most frustrating.
Day 339: Ship is constructed, and now I need to decide who's gonna leave this desolate rock.
First, of course, is Engie. She's the brains of this operation.
Second, we need sparkles. She's gonna make sure we have stuff to trade if we're in need.
Inessa's solely responsible for hundreds of meals we've been eating these years.
Finally... Silver. An escape pod refugee we picked up.
That'll teach Ben to annoy the two most useful colonists in the whole place >:(
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/89ad3f307cde430db4d076a162362a60.png)
(http://image.prntscr.com/image/2dc5fa7b5908405c89e14bb4e179e1e9.png)
Definitely tons of fun. I might even draw a hilariously low-quality comic including Ben screwing around with the ladies, getting left behind, and killed by the first Zzzt!, since he has no ability to put out fires.
Well, this is certainly a hell of a challenge. I'm having fun with it though, and after some trial and error and a few game-ending mistakes I've managed to survive all the way to the first winter with a pretty decent foothold and no shortage of corpses to feast on.
Here's the abridged imgur album:
http://imgur.com/a/1vwR2
And here's the journal I kept of day-to-day events:
Run ??, Day 1 - Meals Remaining: 40
After many false starts I've managed to get a sizeable hut built without suffering frostbite by ordering its construction and unforbidding the necessary wood before Engie's pod has landed. This way she immediately walks over and gets to work. Two campfires are necessary to combat the initial coldness, and Engie must be carefully micromanaged so that she gets completley warm in between hauling trips. I order her to make her bed from silver, as all our steel and remaining wood is precious, and it comes out shoddy. Ah well. Once more materials are hauled in we can begin construction of electrical heating.
Day 2 - Meals Remaining: 39
For my power needs I have decided to go with a wind turbine rather than solar power. While not quite as reliable, it will serve me much better during the long winter nights. Currently I can only afford a single battery, but hopefully that will change soon. Engie has suffered a touch of frostbite during the construction due to my carelessness - hopefully she does not develop infection. There is a single heater built, which should be just enough to keep Engie from freezing to death while she rests.
Day 3 - Meals Remaining: 37
Engie spent most of the day recovering from frostbite, which has unfortunately claimed her right thumb. The penalty to manipulation is going to make everything else that much harder. She will remain resting in bed until she is no longer in danger of bleeding to death, then we really must begin research on an electric smelter. Even a small amount of extra steel will allow us to build a second lifesaving heater.
Day 4 - Meals Remaining: 35
Engie's thumb stops bleeding and she gets up and does some hauling, then immediately goes to sleep in the snow because I forgot to un-designate her bed as medical. A quick slap (draft+undraft) fixes the problem. I don't know why she couldn't have slept while she was recovering, though. We've got work to do if we're going to make it though this, woman!
Day 5 - Meals Remaiing: 34
Engie fails in the construction of the research bench, wasting precious wood and steel. She runs out into the cold to grab more resources before I can stop her and gets frostbite in her ear. Fortunately, a wanderer arrives just in time to patch her up! Welcome to hell, Cordova. I hope you're good at medicine.
Cordova is a man-hating psychopath who is incapable of medicine. I really need a doctor, but I could use a psychopath around too. Unfortunately she is wearing only a cloth t-shirt and will never survive the hike to my base.
Engie thinks we should name our "faction" because two people struggling to not freeze to death before they have the chance to starve counts as a faction, I guess. We call ourselves Against All Odds, trying to inspire a bit of hope. As for the colony, I can't think of a more apt name than Icebox.
Cordova collapses from the cold a dozen meters from the shelter. Sorry, but even if I wanted to split my remaining food with you I have no clothes for you to wear and can't afford to heat this place any further. The best I can do is euthanize her to mitigate the mood penalty. Joke's on me though, she freezes to death before I can kill her.
Day 6 - Meals Remaining: 31
Dear diary, today a lone raider came all the way to the ass end of the planet to try and profit from the razor-thin living I was scraping together. He's got a parka and a tuque, though - cloth, but enough to keep Engie warm at night and allow her to be outside for more than an hour before hypothermia is a serious concern. He did me the service of delivering his clothes most of the way to my base before the cold got to him, and I was able to have Engie strip him before he died to avoid the dead man's clothes debuff. Chin up Engie, our situation has just been upgraded from Hopeless to Desperate!
Day 7 - Meals remaining: 30
We almost lost it all. While out on a hauling trip the cold gave Engie a "soft" mental break, causing her to wander around sad and broken - in -94C weather. The cloth parka wasn't going to save her from that. Fortunately she wandered indoors long enough to not freeze to death, though she was left with some pretty severe frostbite. Fingers crossed for no infections. She literally developed an infection as I typed that. ;_;
Day 8 - Meals Remaining: 27
A wanderer! This one is being chased by pirates but I'm willing to risk a raid to get Engie patched up. She's just baaaaarely behind the infection in terms of immunity and even one slapshod treatment could save her life. Hopefully he can do medicine. Move your ass, Wolle, you've been a colonist for eight seconds now and you're already my only hope!
...Wolle is not INCAPABLE of medicine, but he DOES have a 0 in it. At least he had the sense to wear a parka to the south pole so he might actually make it in time to help. The raid arrives behind him, and one of them is wearing a camelhair parka! Do want!
Now, I have to be careful here. If too many raiders sucumb to hypothermia, the raid will break and the parka wearer will flee before I can take his clothes. But if I turn Wolle around now, out in the open, he will certainly die against the 3-to-1 odds before he can treat Engie's wounds. My only hope would be to kite the raiders until their hypothermia becomes serious but not incapacitating, then hope I can kill the parka wearer before Wolle himself is incapacitated by either combat or the cold.
...goddamnit. Engie is too important, and it's too big a risk. Just treat her and hope for the best later.
Ooooor not! The raiders pursued Wolle all the way to the shack, so I had him grab Engie's charge rifle, turn around and engage them. He downed the guy with the parka, and killed another! Huzzah! Warm clothes with no debuff!
Day 9 - Meals Remaining: 21
Engie just managed to pull through her infection. Good thing too, it would have been a pity to amputate her only remining thumb. She is finally able to begin research on our electric smelter. As an added bonus, one of the tribal raiders had a steel spear. Every little bit counts at this stage. Another colonist offers to join, and I accept. There isn't enough food to sustain more than two people, though, so her and Wolle will have... tryouts. Alright Muse, let's see what you're made of.
Muse arrives naked. New plan: Wolle and Engie take bets on how far she'll make it before the temperature kills her. Neither is correct, as Muse somehow manages to make it all the way to the base before collapsing on top of a lifesaving parka. Engie carries her inside to be euthanized. It's more humane than letting her freeze, and there's no reason we can't be civil. Alas, Muse, we hardly knew ye, but we're sure your corpse will taste delicious. I MEAN UH
Day 10 - Meals Remaining: 17
Wolle hit on Engie and got rebuffed. Between that, sleeping on the ground and his incessant wandering near the corpse pile he is starting to look tas- er, like a liability. Engie is starting to think the cabin fever is getting to her. She takes a quick walk on the ice, and Wolle digs a row of graves to keep the corpses out of sight. It proves to be too little too late, however, and Engie locks herself indoors while Wolle stomps around outside in a berserk rage.
Day 11 - Meals Remaining: 12
An escape pod has landed nearby, providing me with more slag to eventually melt into steel! oh and also a person i guess they're probably not worth it though
He's decent at medicine, and great at growing, but also a Brawler and Very Neurotic. I'm not really set up for resuing anyone or taking prisoners, and that low mental break threshold isn't going to do him any favors at this colony. He's got on a hyperweave shirt, though. Engie goes and strips it off him. Good thing Wolle dug extra graves.
Before I'm even done hauling the body, a wanderer arrives. This sure is a popular little hunk of frozen wasteland. With a nickname like Bard I'm not sure how useful he'll actually be, but I'm willing to take risks to replace the depressive Wolle who's hung up on a disinterested Engie. Unfortunately Bard shows up wearing only pants. Wolle and Engie get to betting. Interestingly, he doesn't make it as far as the naked chick did. We're gonna need more graves.
Day 12 - Meals Remaining: 9
For once something goes my way. A pulse of soothing psychic energy sweeps through the area, taking the edge off Engie's mood. I immediately reassign her to the sleeping spot on the ground and let Wolle have the bed in an attempt to combat his constant -12 mood penalty. However, just as I am celebrating, a group of pirates show up. No matter, there are only three of them and I have two healthy colonists ready to defend. The pirates aren't dressed for the weather, either, and decide to spend half the day "preparing." By the time they arrive they are shaking from cold too badly to shoot straight and we make quick work of them. Wolle has another of his episodes while the loot is being carried back, though, and once again Engie barricades herself indoors to focus on her work. We're almost ready to build that smelter.
Day 13 - Meals Remaining: 5
A group of cargo pods lands nearby, carrying not only more slag for melting but limestone blocks! I can make a proper floor and some more walls out of this, and use the wood for a butcher table. We're getting dangerously low on food, and nothing is worse than eating corpses raw. First Wolle has to calm down, though. He's been out there long enough to get frostbite and I really don't want to use up medicine trying to save him. Cumbersome though he is, right now he's all that stands between Engie and death by infection or disease.
While he's recovering, another wanderer offers to join. Heads up Wolle, Fredrik might just be your replacement if he's halfway competent. And shows up wearing clothes.
Well... it's a toss-up. He's wearing a parka at least, but his skills aren't any more useful than Wolle's and he's incapable of dumb labor. Not being depressive means he won't be constantly at risk of a mental break, but... I can't USE him for anything. I swear I'm not just spoiled by how awesome Engie is - everyone who's joining my colony is either naked or useless, or both.
Day 14 - Meals Remaining: 2
Fredrik was wearing a wool tuque that will help Wolle avoid hypothermia in the future. However, we're dangerously low on food now. If we're going to survive, well... we all knew it was going to come to this, really. Thank goodness I'll be able to make a butcher table. Just as I have that thought, an escape pod arrives. This person has a decent medicine skill, but is incapable of dumb labor and doing anything scary. Is Wolle really as good as it's going to get around here? If so, we're in for rough times.
An AI tells me about a ship that can take me offworld, but it's all the way on the other side of the planet. Plus it's not really in the spirit of the challenge, you know? Wolle thinks Engie is crazy for turning it down but she assures him she knows what she's doing.
Not minutes later, ANOTHER escape pod comes crashing down. Is this hunk of ice magnetic or something? And of all people, it contains Wolle's father. Lloyd is, if you can imagine, even worse than Wolle. He's incapable of dumb AND skilled labor, making him totally useless for anything except eating up all my food. I can't afford to take him in, but letting him die is going to send Wolle into a spiral of depression. I have no choice, though. I quietly strip Lloyd and build Wolle a limestone horseshoes pin.
Day 15 - Meals Remaining: 0
A fugitive from pirates calls us up and asks for help in fleeing the pirates chasing him. i swear to god Brick if you're useless oh jesus it was a drop pod escape how what draft everybody oh god damnit Wolle is wandering around in a daze well here goes nothing
Brick is incapable of caring, which means he is just perfectly not qualified to replace Wolle since he can't care for Engie if she gets sick. He's a hell of a soldier though, and came equipped with armor, a helmet and an assault rifle, so I'll use him as a meat shield to deal with the incoming raid.
As expected, Brick performs admirably in combat, even managing to down a raider wearing a camelhair parka and tuque and strip the body before sucumbing to the cold himself. Upside: he was carrying three simple meals!
Another escape pod lands, and oh my god it's a useful person! He's iron willed AND sanguine, incapable only of research, and 0 skill in medicine but at least able to learn!
So of course he's naked. Engie doesn't make it in time and he dies on the ice, right as Wolle snaps out of his daze.
I really hate you, Wolle.
Day 16 - Meals Remaining: 1
Some cargo pods have landed nearby, carrying... hey! Rice! We'll have to eat it raw, but anything's better than cannabalism. The rest of the day passes uneventfully, mostly cleaning up corpses while Wolle has another mental break and wanders around. With Engie doing all the hauling she can't focus on research, and that means the smelter is taking that much longer.
Day 18 - Meals Remaining: ~10 (raw)
More cargo pods. These contain alpaca wool, which will be useful if we survive long enough to get a tailoring bench up and running. I'm honestly more excited about the slag.
Day 19 - Meals Remaining: ~8 (raw)
Another wanderer. Let's see if this one is as perfectly useless as the rest. Show me what you got, Meretrix.
Meretrix is an iron-willed pyromaniac who is incapable of intellectual, artistic and crafting. She has a low skill in medicine with no passion, and is good at mining (useless), shooting and animal handling.
More to the point, she's naked.
I really, really hate you, Wolle.
Day 21 - Meals Remaining: ~5 (raw)
The days pass more or less uneventfully, aside from Wolle's berserk rages. I'm really quite lucky he hasn't been near Engie during any of them, as that could easily kick off a downward spiral of mental breaks for both of them due to the pain from fighting. The joy from the horseshoes pin is basically the only thing keeping them going right now. Only a bit more research to get that smelter...
Day 22 - meals Remaining: 0
Finally our research on the smelter is complete! Engie gets to building one as soon as possible so Wolle can make himself useful melting slag. Next up, we'd beter get cracking on hydroponics, as this has already taken way too long and we're out of food.
Day 23 - Meals remaining: 0
Cargo pods have arrived, but psychoid leaves are not food. I'm tempted to let them rot on the ice but they may fetch a good price later. The slag is useful, though.
A wanderer has arrived. Cowan. Is wanderer food? Wanderer is good at medicine but nothing else useful, even carrying. Wolle still somehow better alternative. Wanderer is food. Bring good parka, though. Wolle not freeze any more. And bring meals. Colony appreciate. Get in grave.
An unrelated raid arrives on the heels of Cowan. Tribespeople that decide to prepare their raid in the dead of night in -125C weather. I'll be suprised if any of them make it to the base. Well, anyone except that guy with the muffalo wool parka. I hope I get it.
Day 24 - Meals Remaining: 0
An eclipse occurs just as the sun is rising, sending the temperature even lower. One of the raiders is already dead. Right now I'm just worried about where my next meal is coming from, though. It would be very helpful if Wolle stopped having constant mental breaks and did anything.
Day 24 - Meals Remaining: 4
The raid took care of itself in the cold, which is good, because Engie had a lot on her mind. With no other recourse, she was forced to dig up one of the human corpses, butcher and cook it. And it's only by luck she didn't have to eat it raw - the drop pods with limestone allowed us to replace our wooden walls, returning just barely enough wood to make a butcher table, and the steel for the electric stove came from the smelter. Still, cooked cannabalism is cannabalism, and nobody likes doing it for very long.
During all this excitement, where was Wolle, I hear you ask, because I have excellent hearing. Well, since you asked, he was an integral part of the construction of the walls and defending the haha no of course not he came down with the flu and was laid up in bed the whole time. Then when Engie tried to treat him, he snapped, went berserk and started punching her.
So I had her shoot him with the charge rifle.
He didn't die (I should be so lucky), so Engie sighed heavily, hauled his bleeding, sick body back into bed, and started patching him up again.
Then I got a call from someone fleeing some tribespeople. Please, please let Red be a competent replacement for Wolle, whom I shall hate until the end of the universe.
Oh.
Oh my.
A pretty, kind psychopath (someone who won't care about being the one butchering corpses!) with no passion but a low skill in medicine and a small passion for construction?! Wolle, consider yourself fucking replaced. She's even wearing a muffalo wool parka!
A sizeable raid of seven tribespeople follows her in, but none of them are even remotely dressed for the weather. In honor of their defeat I strip Wolle naked and euthanize him. No regrets.
---
I feel like things will start to calm down the more established I get, but the first 30ish days have been absolutely insane. Between Wolle's incessant mental breaks and a wanderer/refugee/escape pod just about every day (sometimes more than one) it seemed like poor Engie was never going to catch a break. I'm having fun with this though, and am going to see it through to the bitter (possibly freezing) end. Let me know if you guys are enjoying the long-form journal enteries, they're fun to write and I'll post more as I continue playing. :)
Quote from: Sola on January 14, 2017, 12:58:30 PM
Day 324: Zzzt is the most annoying random event in the game when you only have two guys that can put out fires.
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Cost me about 100 simple meals, but it's not like I'm short on food. The inconvenience of it is what's most frustrating.
Day 339: Ship is constructed, and now I need to decide who's gonna leave this desolate rock.
First, of course, is Engie. She's the brains of this operation.
Second, we need sparkles. She's gonna make sure we have stuff to trade if we're in need.
Inessa's solely responsible for hundreds of meals we've been eating these years.
Finally... Silver. An escape pod refugee we picked up.
That'll teach Ben to annoy the two most useful colonists in the whole place >:(
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Definitely tons of fun. I might even draw a hilariously low-quality comic including Ben screwing around with the ladies, getting left behind, and killed by the first Zzzt!, since he has no ability to put out fires.
Congrats on making it out!
First post on these forums. This was too cool a challenge to pass up.
A little background first.
I'm a casual Rimworlder; so much so that I've never actually finished the game. The hardest I've ever played on is Cassandra Classic Extreme. I'm the sort who plays in a Boreal Forest Mountain and ends up dying off anyway - or more likely, savescumming when something truly terrible happens anyway due to my incompetence.
Anyhow, with that out of the way, I should mention I lowered the difficulty to Rough, at least for my first tries.
My first run (the first one I'm counting, since there were about seven preliminaries due to changing computers, changing files to allow cold snaps, and dying within three minutes to hypothermia) ended on the 4th of Spring of '01. The poor gal was caught by a lucky shot from a Scyther's charge lance. She killed the bastid, but with nobody else around to do medical work, she bled out in bed.
I'm hooked. (I'll probably up the difficulty to Extreme for the next try.)
Even in the end game, scythers are the single most painful enemy you will fight. EMP grenades will be your best friend.
Quote from: Sola on January 18, 2017, 08:01:14 AM
Even in the end game, scythers are the single most painful enemy you will fight. EMP grenades will be your best friend.
You seem like a good person to ask.
About when should I be looking to pick up my second colonist?
Day 1. Colonists that both have the skills enabled to be useful and don't have traits that make them a massive liability are not particularly common; don't let an opportunity pass you by. Around day 30, my standards drop to 'anyone who can do medicine and isn't a pyro'.
Quote from: Shurp on January 12, 2017, 07:28:39 PM
So I'm thinking of giving this another try... but... I'm concerned about the trade situation. Steel is the critical resource. My previous try ended because it got too cold to harvest drop pods before I was able to build my stove to cook frozen meat bags. But I didn't bother with a trade console; instead I went straight to smelting.
How hard is it to get a bulk goods trader to give you enough steel to set up a stove and second heater before winter hits? Once I have those I'm sure Engie can survive on cooked human meat until spring rolls around...
same here.. this is an interesting challenge, but you have to rely A LOT on luck. That's where I don't like it that much. You need to be lucky enough that your raiders have nice gear, not the typical cotton parkas and also lucky enough that a ship decides to drop by. Also lucky enough that you can get someone useful and not the typical pyro, trigger happy, brawler.
I've tried this a couple of times, but my cargo drops where completely useless and no traders to be seen. I had 260 unit of hops. Come on Cassandra! I'm was dying and you sent me that!
So far, I've made it until day 35. I was hopping for some trade, but I couldn't wait any longer. I had to deconstruct my comms and build a smelter, and then the sythers took me and my base to my grave (I had no sniper rifle either).
Quote from: Jovus on January 18, 2017, 09:27:22 AM
Quote from: Sola on January 18, 2017, 08:01:14 AM
Even in the end game, scythers are the single most painful enemy you will fight. EMP grenades will be your best friend.
You seem like a good person to ask.
About when should I be looking to pick up my second colonist?
Always. Every colonist is a potential new recruit. If you get great traits, keep it. If it's anything less than "Really really close", let him die. The more colonists you have, the less likely you'll get another colonist event.
-Able to grow, doctor, shoot, haul,
and cook. Unable to do any of these, you'll probably want to skip. As your colony grows, you're going to have to do a lot of growing, hauling, and cooking. Making Engie waste her time cooking when she could be researching is not optimal.
-Mental break traits, such as sanguine, optimistic, iron willed, and steadfast.
-Psychopath is a huge plus. One guy that can cut up 9001 bodies with only a -5 mood penalty to the rest of your colony is the way to go. The leather will be good trade bait, and the human sausages are good food in a pinch.
-Affinity for shooting is a huge plus. When you're using a squad of snipers, you'll get the daily 4000 exp in shooting easily when kiting centipedes on interested learners.
-Skip anyone that can't fight fires. Zzzt! is a real pain when most of the map is "walk speed = 24%".
-Skip chemical interest/chemical fascination. it's bad on other maps, and suicide here.
Ideally, you'll want to see a bulk goods trader before you pick up your second colonist (hydroponics to sustain them, their mental break thresholds are less forgiving than Engie's), but the longer you go without a backup doctor, the more you risk dying to an infected pinky toe.
There's a funny mod called Mind Altering Device. It randomly generates new traits for your colonists. The side effect is that there's a chance they'll get brain damage. Always fun to use on new recruits (especially wanderers)! ;D
I would only put doctor, shooting, and either crafting or hauling on my 100% must have list for my second pawn. Growing is easily skippable; tending two or three rice hydroponics bays doesn't take much time. Missing hauling sucks, but they'll fetch steel slag while working the smelter and slag is well over half of the early game hauling so it's close enough. Cooking is a nice to have, but it doesn't use up nearly as much of Engie's time as hauling steel slag or bleeding to death do, so it's not worth passing up an otherwise acceptable pawn over.
Also note that Bloodlust is as good or better than Psychopath (can also butcher humans with no penalty, and also gets mood boosts during/after battles from witnessing deaths). And cannibal is better than both because they get a huge mood boost from eating the resulting human meat.
Here are the next 30ish days of my little adventure, split into two posts because apparently I hit the character limit. :o
I also started writing the entries from Engie's perspective, which I enjoy a lot more since I get to give the pawns some personality.
Enjoy!
Day 26 - Meals Remaining: 0
A small pirate raid arrives. Three strong, armed with melee weapons and personal shields, only one of whom was told that the base they were raiding was located in temperatures low enough to freeze a thrumbo. I never even see them approach my base.
Day 29 - Meals Remaining: 6 (human)
The lest three days have been mercifully uneventful, allowing us to research Hydroponics more or less uninterrupted. But today some cargo pods arrived, bringing us a supply of elk meat and a load of slag! This will help everyone get over their nerves about the cannabalism for now. Hopefully by the time we're resorting to that again, we'll have some vegetables to make the meal a bit more pallatable. Engie and Red drop everything to get the meat hauled back and cooked.
While they're doing that, another wanderer happens by our bustling little community. Even with her parka Kallisti is about ninety degrees undredressed for the climate. Let's see if she makes it to the base in time to help with any of the hauling.
She immediately takes off her parka in anticipation of swapping it out for a better one at my base and begins carrying it halfway across the map. Engie and Red place their bets. At least Khallisti was carrying some survival meals.
JOURNAL ENTRIES FROM THIS POINT FORWARD ARE WRITTEN FROM ENGIE'S PERSPECTIVE
Day 30 - Meals Remaining: 14, 6 (human)
I spent the day cooking the elk meat into some simple meals. It's not fancy, but it's a welcome change from cannabalism. A couple more days of that and we probably would have lost it, thanks to the dismal conditions around here. Red is doing her best to haul in all the corpses we've left on the ice until now, as most of them still have useful gear that can be sold or broken down. Plus she doesn't seem to be bothered by all the death and decay. It's a little disturbing but right now I'm just glad I don't have to look at any more corpses.
Day 31 - Meals Remaining: 12, 6 (human)
Uhh, I think I blacked out for a few hours there. Red says she went out to get another body to bury and when she came back she found my research notes strwn around our shelter and I was stomping around outside waving my arms and shouting obsceneties at our wind turbine. She cleaned up as best she could and even finished a few of my equations. I feel a little bad about that - she must have been afraid to go outside. I'll have to make it up to her somehow. Hopefully I can do that with the gift of fresh food. Her work actually solved the last couple of problems I was trying to work out with the hydroponics station, and I think we're ready to build one once we get the steel together!
Day 32 - Meals Remaining: 9, 6 (human)
Today we got a call from a wanderer on our shortwave station who wants to help us out. I'm honestly not sure where all these people are coming from. When we asked, she said her name was Amy and that she was good with plants. I should have turned her away. I shoud have told her that it was too hard here, that she'd never make it. But I was selfish. I thought another helper would be nice around here. So I told her we'd work together.
She wasn't dressed for the ice. Even walking as fast as she was, she didn't make it close enough to the shelter to put on anything warmer before collapsing. I tried to bring her inside and treat her frostbite, but our single heater isn't enough to raise the temperature to survivable levels in the cold of winter. Amy is dead.
It's strange. All the people that have come and go before her... all the frozen raids, escape pod survivors and refugees... she's the first one I feel truly bad about. I think I'm done writing for now.
Day 33 - Meals Remaining: 5, 6 (human)
I was outside smelting slag, trying to keep my mind off things, when I saw a group of tribespeople brandishing weapons approaching on the ice. There were only six, and they dodn't look too warmly dressed, so I didn't think much of it - but as they were getting closer, we got another call on the shortwave. Hakuja, a healer, was being chased by tribespeople and begged for our protection.
...damnit. I don't want to invite more people to their deaths, and two raids at once might actually be the end of us. But I can't doom her to capture and whatever punishment those neanderthals will devise for her. I just can't. I wake Red and tell her to grab a weapon. Here we go.
Well, we made it. It wasn't easy, though. Even with the cold both groups made it up to the shelter, and we had to fall back to take shots from afar as the temperature did its work. The group chasing Hakuja was nearly a dozen strong, and she ended up taking an arrow to the kidney before enough of the attackers were killed or frozen to force a retreat. i take her inside to get patched up right away. I'm not losing another one.
Not long after I get her patched up, we hear the farmilar thump-thump-thump of cargo pods landing nearby. They contained smokeleaf joints, of all things. Well... I'm not usually an advocate for drug use, but things are hard enough out here as it is. At least this will keep everyone in a good mood for a while, though maybe they should be saved for when we run out of food again...
Day 35 - meals Remaining: 3, 6 (human)
Hakuja made a full recovery and, it turns out, is a rather good cook! She cooked the last of our elk meat into some simple meals for us. I've decided to restrict use of the smokeleaf for when things get really bad. I'd rather ration them out as damage control than smoke them all up and be happy for a couple days when we're already doing alright.
Oh, hell. Red just came running and says a bunch of tribespeople showed up and are preparing to raid us. What do these people want from us? We're barely scraping by as it is! Well, we'd better get ready to defend ourselves, Red says several of them are dressed warmly enough to live through the night. It turns out not to matter. Enough of them freeze in the first couple of hours that they decide to cut their losses and retreat.
Day 36 - Meals Remaining: 6 (human)
Wow, that food went faster than I thought. I guess we do have three people to worry about feeding now. I opted to crack open one of the human meat meals instead of starving, and immediately all the bad memories came rushing back. Well, this is what the smokeleaf is for right? I lit up, and the joint made me feel all euphoric and giggly. For a few minutes it was like being young again. Then I felt the familiar pangs of hunger, even though I'd just eaten. I forgot how hungry this stuff can make you. That could be a problem...
Some cargo pods landed, and we all had our hopes up for a moment, but it turned out to be just chemfuel. Pretty useless, all things considered. At least the slag will provide us with more precious steel.
Day 39 - Meals Remaining: 3 (human)
An escape pod crashed nearby. It feels callous, but there's no way we'll be able to rescue them before the hypothermia is irreversible. Sorry Lindberg.
We're burning (ha) through our smokeleaf pretty quickly trying to counter the mood penalties from all the cannabalism. We have the steel to make a hydroponics bench, but it's still too cold in the shelter to grow any plants. We're going to have to tear down the research bench to make more room for heaters in here. We can worry about research once our food situation is under control.
Day 40 - Meals Remaining: 2 (human)
What luck! A few chunks of my ruined spacecraft have landed nearby. They must have taken some time to de-orbit, but I'm glad they did. We can salvage these for more steel and even some components. We'll use the extra supplies to build another wind turbine - one isn't going to cut it if we need three heaters, a sun lamp and a hydroponics basin powered at all times.
A few hours later an escape pod de-orbits and crashes hard nearby. Once again, there's nothing we can do for Dorian in these temperatures. It makes me thankful that I wasn't injured when my escape pod landed, or I could just have easily frozen to death here. I barely survived as it was. If some of the ship's storage hadn't landed nearby... I'd rather not think about it.
Day 42 - Meals Remaining: 8 (human)
Good news on the horizon! More cargo pods have crashed nearby containing... rhino meat? Well, I've never tried it, but I'd give just about anything to stop having to eat dead raiders at this point. I grab Red (Hakuja won't do any hauling - annoying, but she's a good enough doctor that I don't mind dealing with it) and we bring as much meat as we can carry back to the shelter.
Day 44 - Meals Remaining: 10, 6 (human)
A raid arrived this morning. More tribespeople. Hakuja seemed a bit taken aback when Red and I started jokingly wagering how far they would make it. I suppose it is a bit dark, but apparently she had another reason. She said she wanted them to get close because she had never gotten to watch a person freeze to death before.
I wonder if I'm going to be the same when I get out of here. Maybe I'll try to be a little less indifferent about the fate of the people that wind up here.
Hakuja ended up taking her bow and hiking out to "scout out" the raiding party. She came back with a wicked smile on her face and news that they were all frozen or gone. It makes me a little nervous to think that this person is the most accomplished doctor we have out here. I didn't have too much time to dwell on it, though, as the shortwave crackled to life with a distress call from Caxigo Saio. She was fleeing from tribespeople and needed protection. I told her we'd do what we could, even though I worry about the drain on our resources. Hakuja just smiled.
Saio arrives chased by no fewer than sixteen tribespeople. That's enough to make me nervous, even with the cold protecting us. I shake Red awake and we both head outdoors to defend ourselves. Red doesn't seem too perturbed, and I don't think I've ever seen Hakuja happier. I'm not sure if I'm more freaked out by the thought of a bunch of tribals kidnapping me or my own people.
None of us were hurt in the raid, but I did get a bit carried away shooting in the dark and I acidentally broke our second wind turbine. Whoops. That's going to be expensive to fix.
Silver lining, another soothing psychic wave sweeps throug the region, giving me and presumably every other woman in a thousand miles a warm, pleasant tingle in the back of our minds. even so, Saio spends her first night in the shelter softly weeping to herself. In the morning I ask what's wrong, and she tearfully replies that her son and daughter were recently killed. I'm crushed. I don't really know what to say. She's absorbing herslef in her work for now, obsessively keeping every square inch of our shelter as clean as possible. Still, it's only a matter of time before the reality sinks in. I'll let the others know to keep an eye on her in case she tries hurting herself. Poor woman....
Day 45 - Meals Remining - 9, 6 (human)
Hakuja and Red have come down with the flu, which is dangerous in these conditions but not as immediately fatal as it might have been when I was alone. I order them both to stay in bed and rest as much as possible. Of course, we still have only one real bed. I'll have to keep an eye on them and make sure Hakuja doesn't get too sick from lying on the ground.
Another escape pod crashlands nearby, carrying another doomed survivor. This one doesn't even have a shirt on. He'll be dead in minutes, I tell myself. It still feels bad to let someone just die out there but there's nothing I can do to save these people.
Day 46 - Meals Remaining - 4 (human)
My earlier comment about temperatures cold enough to freeze a thrumbo proves apt, as today one of the rare creatures wandered into sight of our shelter. I don't know how the poor thing made it this far, but it seems unlikely it will survive much longer. Thinking about the loss of such a peaceful and majestic creature makes me sad, but the pragmatist in me is thinking about how much meat the creature can provide. That could be enough food to keep the four of us going for over a week.
The beast actually wandered right into my stockpile before collapsing from the cold. It's sad... I can't help but shake the feeling that it came here on purpose, sacrificing itself so that we could live. I almost can't bring myself to butcher it, but I have no choice - we are once again out of options. If I make it off this icy rock, I'm going to go work on one of those preservation planets where they create entire ecosystems for animals to thrive in. They say there are entire herds of thrumbo there wandering the plains. It sounds beautiful.
Day 48 - meals Remaining - 6, 4 (human)
The shortwave crackled to life again this morning. I thought it was going to be another ditress call, but it turned out to be much more benign than that. A nearby wanderer had heard about our colony and wanted to offer his services. I was ready to turn him down when he mentioned he was Saio's brother.
Well... crap. I don't want to turn away Saio's family, especially after what she's been through already. But we really, really, really can't afford to have too many people right now. I haven't even set up the hydroponics basin yet! In the end I decide to accept. Maybe having her brother around will cheer Saio up a bit. We can't take in any more people after this though - there is literally no more space in the shelter.
The sound of arriving cargo pods cheers me up a bit, until I go see what arrived. Wake-up? Ugh. We don't need that crap, we have enough problems as it is. I decide to just not tell anyone about it and let it rot on the ice. I'll haul the slag back, though. More steel is always helpful.
Day 49 - Meals Remaining: 4 (human)
A distant engine of hatred is stirring, and all the women in the shelter can feel it. It's like needles in my throughts. Hard to write. Hope it goes away soon.
A fight broke out. Saio and her brother both snapped and started hitting me. Red and Hakuja had to pull them off me, but I think they got a bit carried away and now everyone is injured and in pain. Mostly bruises, but things are hard enough without us all fighting each other.
More cargo pods arrive, bringing hops. I don't know the first thing about brewing, but maybe they'll be useful someday soon. As soon as everyone can walk again we'll start hauing them.
Another cargo pod crashes minutes later. Must test theroy about magnetism. This one has a bit of gold in it, enough that when the time comes we can build a proper reseach station. That's our ticket off this rock. If we can figure out how to cobble together a ship we've got a shot at making it home.
Day 50 - Meals remaining: 1, 4 (human)
Toxic fallout. I've read about this. The rimworlds are full of ancient structures, obliterated again and again by civilizations in a constant state of war and self-destruction. Sometimes the deteriorating structures can explode or catch fire, and if they happen to contain toxic chemichals poisonus ash gets swept into the sky and carried hundreds or even thousands of miles across the globe before raining down on some unfortunate area. Today that unfortunate area is us. I tell everyone to stay under roofs and
indoors as much as possible. Maybe we can focus on getting hydroponics built without everyone running all over the place hauling everything.
Day 51 - Meals Remaining: 2, 4 (human)
Well, we cooked the last of our thrumbo meat today. Tomorrow it's back to corpses. Trying not to think about it. To make matters worse, we got a call from a wanderer claiming to be Saito and Leonid's mother. I just... can't. We can't. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It's just impossible. There's no room left. We need every scrap of material left to grow food. There are too many people as it is. I turn her down without telling the siblings. I can't bring myself to. Later, Saito asks me why I've been sulking around all day. I lie and tell her I'm worried about the food situation. It makes me feel like garbage. I take solace only in the fact that we finally got a hydroponics basin built and powered and are beginning to grow some rice to eat. It can't grow fast enough.
Day 53 - Meals Remaining: 5 (human)
A solar flare killed our rice. Now we have to start over.
Day 54 - Meals Remaining: 10 (human)
I had to turn away another wanderer today. At least Schmidt wasn't related to anyone here. The fallout hasn't gone away, though. I hope he has some kind of shelter, or he's going to die out there. I can't think too much about it. Our smokeleaf supply is running low and there's no end to the cannabalism in sight. We really need more steel - if we can get a comm station up and running maybe we can entice some passing ships into a bit of trade. All these clothes we took off the raiders have got to be worth something, right?
Some cargo pods full of hay crashed nearby. That would be great if we had any animals, but humans can't digest hay. The slag will be useful, anyway. I decide to risk a bit of exposure to the fallout in order to get some hauling done.
Day 55 - Meals Remaining: 7 (human)
We had our first harvest today! It wasn't much, but Saio cooked us up some fine meals with it and the human meat we're still being forced to eat. It's not ideal, but it will help stretch what little food we have. Plus, with the rice in there it's easier to pretend you're eating some pork, or a nice steak.
Day 56 - Meals Remaining: 6 (human)
More cargo pods arrived, these carrying Flake. It would certainly take the edge off, but this stuff is horribly addictive. I'm leaving it on the ice.
More cargo pods? Uncanny. These are carrying nutrient paste meals, though. They taste like dirt and have the texture of snot, but they're not made of people and that's good enough for me!
Day 57 - Meals Remaining: 9 (human)
More cargo pods, more hay. Did a farming ship crash? Regardless, there was a decent amount of slag in the wreck. If this damn fallout would ever clear up we could all go and get it, but as it is I don't want to risk anyone being outside longer than they need to.
I can't believe it! It's Otto! My husband is alive! He called on the shortwave just a moment ago. Of course we're going to take him in, we'll think of a way to make space. I dont' know how... we'll think of something. It's been so hard without my Otto, I can't believe he's actually coming here! I know he won't judge me too harshly for the things I've done to survive. With him here we could have a real shot at this!
What... oh no. Oh no oh no oh no oh no what happened to his clothes?! I'm coming Otto, I'm not letting you freeze out there! Not you!
I ran out to meet him, and it's a good thing I did because he very nearly froze. Poor Otto... we got him inside in time and he's warming up now. We'll get him some suitable clothes soon.
Hakuja just walked in laughing. I asked what was so funny and she said a cluster of cargo pods had landed nearby carrying a shipment of wooden feet. Nothing else, just a shipment of eight wooden prosthetic feet. More slag though, if we ever get the chance to collect it all we should be able to afford a comms console right away.
Saio picked yet another fight with us in the middle of the night. I know she lost her children, but this doesn't seem like healthy grieving to me. You know, her sleeping spot is right next to mine, and Otto needs a place to stay...
Day 59 - Meals Remaining: 0
The others are having a hard time getting along with Otto. I admit he's hard to like, but they just don't see him like I do. Sure, some people think his voice is annoying... and the fact that he won't haul anything doesn't help (out of 6 people here, only Red and I will carry anything... it's so hard to get things done, but we manage). And sure, we had to force him to put on warmer clothes so that he wouldn't try and play horseshoes naked in the snow. And when I told him about the Flake he ran off to take some and wound up spending the next day and a half binging on it. But he's my husband. I can't help that I love him. We'll make it work.
((Author's note: Boy did I make a mistake. Otto is the worst fucking thing to happen to my colony since Wolle. No... I think worse. Wolle at least saved Engie's life. Otto has ZERO useful skills, won't haul or clean, and I wasn't making up the thing about not wearing any clothes. Most colonists automatically wear the warmest thing possible on this map, but Otto really was content to keep playing horseshoes wearing nothing but pants. He wasn't joy-deprived or anything, and he's not a nudist, he just didn't want to wear clothes. I had to keep drafting him and sending him inside to warm up, then force him to wear the warmest clothes I could find in my stockpile. Right after that he had a mental break and decided to go on a psychite binge. He took one dose of Flake and was instantly addicted. He then proceeded to spend all day wandering around the ice and continually going back for more hits of Flake.
And the worst part is, him being around isn't even giving Engie a mood buff! Engie is a hard worker and he's lazy, which is a -5 to their relationship, and then his annoying voice brings it down another -25, fully countering the +30 from being married. Then he went and ate some raw human meat before I could cook it, giving Engie another -5. So instead of a useful worker who can keep Engie in a good mood like I thought, I've got a no-skill drug addict who I don't have room for and who can't help with even the most basic of tasks. I'm thinking of sending him and the siblings off to form a second colony next door, then abandoning it. I think that lets you get rid of a relative or loved one without a mood penalty.
Siao hasn't been very helpful either, the -40 from losing both children (which she arrived on the map with; I had nothing to do with that) won't go away for another season and in the meantime she is having extreme mental breaks at least once a day. The constant berserk rages mean my pawns are constantly fighting and getting bruises and cracks everywhere, putting them in pain and causing further mood debuffs which, combined with the cannibalism, will start an unbreakable downward spiral if I don't do something. I can't kill her off without upsetting her brother, who isn't too useful either. I'd euthanize both of them, but I've been writing Engie as a more sympathetic person than I am in this circumstance. Plus, that doesn't solve the Otto problem. It's the best thing for everyone if I just send them off.))
Some cargo pods landed narby, carring over 200 alphabeaver meat! I might have turned my nose up at such exotic meat before landing here, but now I'm desperate for anything that isn't a cooked person. This is definitely going to help calm everyone's nerves.
Day 60 - Meals Remaining: 2
I can't believe what I'm reading. It took me so long just to make this entry, I've been shaking and crying all morning. But I have to keep a record of what happened.
Otto is gone.
He must have left in the night. I found a note by my bed in the morning, explaining how he knew about a colony nearby that could provide us with resources, maybe even take us in. He took Saio and her brother with him, maybe hoping for some kind of protection if they got ambushed. I wish they'd talked to me about it. Trying to cross this ice would be suicide. It's too cold, we don't have enough food to make it a significant distance, and even if we did we can't carry our entire shelter with us. Everything we have is right here, so it's here or nothing. I wish they'd stuck with me. We could have done this together.
Or maybe they just lost faith in me.
I don't want to write anymore.
I'd like to thank OP for the idea. Was great fun (yes, I "won" a couple of times, but that's not the point).
I used to play only on Ice Sheet in the past at ~ -90C maps. Never thought I could add cold snap / volcanic winter / eclipse as permanent map conditions. That opens a whole range of possibilities - at least for me. Actual conditions are still too "humane" in my opinion (eg you can use silver to build bed and extra layer walls in order to mitigate the lack of construction materials)
I tried to alter conditions using scenario editor, but I am unable to add permanent cold snap as a map condition. Fallout, volcanic winter, eclipse - yes. But not cold snap.
Any suggestions?
Thank you.
Quote from: taha on January 19, 2017, 04:13:53 AM
I'd like to thank OP for the idea. Was great fun (yes, I "won" a couple of times, but that's not the point).
I used to play only on Ice Sheet in the past at ~ -90C maps. Never thought I could add cold snap / volcanic winter / eclipse as permanent map conditions. That opens a whole range of possibilities - at least for me. Actual conditions are still too "humane" in my opinion (eg you can use silver to build bed and extra layer walls in order to mitigate the lack of construction materials)
I tried to alter conditions using scenario editor, but I am unable to add permanent cold snap as a map condition. Fallout, volcanic winter, eclipse - yes. But not cold snap.
Any suggestions?
Thank you.
You need to add the "Create incident" part, select cold snap, and set the repeat interval to 0 which should make the incident permanent, if I remember correctly.
To the person doing longform journal entries, and anyone else interested, You can drastically extend your food life with this:
1. Forbid all food
1a. forbid all freshly carved human meat and any just hauled food
1b. forbid the stack of food after you have Engie grab a meal
2. Let Engie's food bar run to 1% (0.4% if the food is inside, next to her, 1.3% if she has to walk out the airlock first) then use the right click to force her to grab a meal (then reforbid the stack).
This works because even though a meal only fills 90% of her hunger bar, the bar decreases at half speed below 20% and 1/4th speed below 10%....so you basically get an extra 50% of a food bar or more, than letting engie control her own eating.
Try to avoid actually getting to starving, since malnutrition moves your hunger bar a lot faster.
Also, use meals as long as possible...not raw food. meals are 10 food for 90% hunger, raw food is 18 food for 90% hunger.
Using this, it is possible (my playthru #3) to last about a year right as you run out of the packaged meals (counting an extra ~9-15 from raiders and wanderers)
Obviously this gets much more obnoxiously micromanagy with another colonist, so best used before getting buddies.
Thanks, that will be useful if (when) I get into a situation where I'm running low on food again. As it is, I have three colonists now so the micromanaging would be a bit of a chore, and I still have about two dozen corpses buried outside ready to be dug up and eaten. If something horrible happens and I end up starting over it'll be useful for keeping Engie from starving right away, though. ;D
Try #4:
Got frostbite due to a failed construct on a wall not facing the wood...alt-f4'd out to eliminate the attempt and do it again rather than sit in bed for my whole first day.
Try #5:
Strong start, no FTCs, did some snow clearing to make nearby hauling faster. Unfortunately, Engie crafted a shoddy silver bed, so i'll be losing plenty of sleep compared to the good bed i had on my second playthru.
Day 5: only 5 meals used so far. A cadaver wearing a cloth parka and tuque joins. Engie thinks that if people INSIST on coming here to die, it should be named. Faction group: Forsaken, Colony name: Arse End of the World.
Day 6: raider comes in, smashes the outer door (i kept repairing it, and hit him a couple times)...he moved to the battery and set it on fire, i came out and unloaded charge rifle shots, he got in a whack though. disabled him, got his megasloth wool tuque, 57%, so no more tattered debuff.
Day 10....still no more events...had a thrumbo come by, but got out before it died. Getting bored.
Day 12, HOLY CRAP!
Got a wait, then attack raid, then 5 in-game minutes later got a chased wanderer...66 year old sausages and leather basically...with the raid that follows, then 30 in game minutes after that, got a wanderer...this is all during a solar flare thats 10 hours in and i'm up to minor hypothermia...and its not over...fingers crossed!
Wanderer was shot by sniper pirate AS he entered the map...he was aiming at the refugee and retargeted to the wanderer...literally made it a SINGLE tile into the map and had his head shot off...
raiders approach, refugee keels over most of the way to my base, but the raiders are too close for me to drag back or strip. Raiders pull the body away as i come out to try....and i put a notch into my available luck as a sniper shot misses a no-cover Engie.
Net result, 2 raiders die, they fail to get the body off the map. Unfortunately, no new clothes, no sniper rifle, and i need to make a dangerous trek to the very edge of the map to retrieve the wanderer...make it back JUST before frostbite could hit.
Also get a drop pod of muffalo WOOL...will be great...when i get a tailor bench.
Bodies carved, leather is finally plentiful enough for an armchair at the research bench. no more awful bedroom.
Day 14:
Got the "travel to ship to win" location. New plan forming. Seriously considering hauling all that muffalo wool, waiting until human butchering penalty is gone, deconstruct some stuff, make a hand tailoring bench and get a muffalo parka, then set off for the ship...
Bedtime now...will decide tomorrow.
My favorite challenge so far has been tribals on an ice sheet. I've never attempted a sea ice biome yet, mainly because I'm still on my first game of the new alpha. Trying to exterminate all the bases on MY planet. So has anyone tried the crash landing scenario? Doesn't seem like tribals would even be possible.
Tribals would be damn near impossible. You don't start with electricity, meaning you have to burn wood for heat. You will run out of wood in a matter of days. if you built a TINY hut out of all your silver, and made only sleeping spots for everyone, MAYBE you could research electricity before you ran out of wood to burn. Even so, you probably won't be able to afford a butcher table, and you can't afford to tear apart the bench until you have smelting and hydroponics unlocked. Without a butcher table, once you run out of MREs you're going to have to start eating corpses raw, which is sure to set off a downward spiral of berserk rages.
So it might not be flat-out impossible, but it would probably make this challenge look like a cakewalk.
Day 64
I'm writing in this journal again only because this may be my last entry. A large piece of machinery has crashed nearby. It doesn't look like it's from my ship, or any human ship for that matter. Judging by the sharp pain in my head, this must be a Mechanoid structure. The three of us have no choice but to open it and see what lies within. We will spend some steel on sandbags and a section of wall to build roofing from, but beyond that we must hope for the best.
While we are setting up, some cargo pods crash disturbingly close to our shelter containing plasteel. Not a great deal, but it's a very strong and versatile building material. If we live through this it should be useful.
Hakuja is nowhere to be found, but we cannot wait any longer. Red and I nod to each other and march on the ship. Nothing else to say.
We lived! And not only that, but we profited! There were three of the Mechanoids, smaller ones that I think I remember are called Scythers. One of them shot Red with some kind of high-tech railgun right away. I thought she was dead - the projectile shot right past her face and she spun around spraying blood, but she had managed to dodge at the last second. It did tear off most of her ear, though, and another shot caught her square in the torso. Her armor stopped the slug from piercing her, but the force of it still shattered a rib. She's going to be in recovery for quite a while, but she'll live.
When all was said and done, scrapping the ship yeilded nearly 300 steel, a couple of slag chunks, and some kind of black box computer that I think contains some kind of advanced AI. I'm sure we'll have a use for that later. There was also some silver in the construction, so we stripped that, and if we can build the right tools for it I bet I can take these robots apart and get us even more useful stuff. Come to think of it, those arm blades on the Scythers look pretty wicked.... I bet they would make good melee weapons, or at least be valuable enough to sell.
First though, I need to get orbital communications up and running. It's unlikely there are any passenger ships in range but maybe we can contact some of those automated trade ships you always hear about.
Actually, first I think we'd better start taking our defenses more seriously. I start making sketches of some lightly fortified areas around the shelter we can occupy in case a serious attack hits us. With the steel we've salvaged from the ship it should be doable, and if something like this happens again we'll be ready.
Day 67
Another thrumbo showed up today. I seem to be the only one who feels any sympathy for the poor creatures - Red seems indifferent about pretty much anything, and Hakuja is just hoping it wanders close enough that she can see it freeze to death herself. I wish I could do something to help the poor thrumbo but it's just too cold outside. At least we will eat well this week.
Day 68
Everyone is still panicking a bit right now, but things are under control enough that I can take some time to write this. We were asleep in the shelter last night when some kind of modified cargo pod landed ON our shelter, smashing through the roof and nearly crushing me. We thought we'd just gotten unlucky. Then a Scyther burst out of the pod and started shooting. Hakuja tried to distract it with her club while I backed away and started firing, but it beat her down pretty quickly. Also, one of my shots went wide and caught her in the arm. Nevertheless, we survived, though it seems like a cruel irony that after spending so much of our steel on fortifications the next threat would bypass them entirely.
What worries us more is the idea that this might not have been random. It's only been four days since we killed the stucture that crashed here, and already we have to deal with more mechanoids. Could that have alerted them to our presence somehow? I hope not.
Red was out looking for the thrumbo when she found a couple of ship parts that rashed nearby. They look like parts of my ship. when did that happen? We must have missed it during the excitement. Red says the thrumbo is nowhere to be found, though. It must have wandered off somewhere else. I hope it's okay. The steel and components we can salvage from the ship parts will make up for the defenses we had to build, though. Maybe now we can get a comms station running.
Day 69
Some more cargo pods landed nearby, and these have a bunch of slate blocks suitable for building! With these we can build some more much-needed beds and maybe even make some private rooms to sleep in. Everyone being in close quarters all the time is putting people on edge.
Day 71
hakuja came running into the shelter shouting about transport pods in the sky. Red and I came running, squinting against the sun to see what she was talking about.
Then I saw them. Six... seven... eight transport pods, crashing down around us and releasing angry, armed soldiers inside our defensive perimiter. We never stood a chance, really. We were outnumbered more than three to one, and they came prepared for a fight. I think I lost consciousness first, then Red. Hakuja fought fiercely but couldn't win against that many opponents. At least, that's how she tells it.
The only reason we're not all slaves right now is because of the cold. Our captors had come prepared for a fight, but not the climate, and one by one they sucumbed to hypothermia. They must have decided to leave us behind to freeze or bleed out, and that's nearly what happened. Hakuja came to when her captors dropped her, and quickly roused me. Together we dragged Red back into the shelter and treated her wounds, thanking our lucky stars that it wasn't worse.
((Author's note: Well, Otto showed up again, chased by pirates. I was afraid if I just turned him away that would count as him "dying" and give Engie a mood penalty, so I decided I'd take him in, deal with the raid, and then do the colonize/abandon trick again and hope that the next time he showed up it would be as a wanderer I could safely turn away.
I was NOT prepared for him to drop in a cargo pod right outside my base with eight pirates hot on his tail, six of whom had melee weapons. That was not winnable for me in such close quarters. They downed and kidnapped everyone, and that would have been game over if they hadn't started collapsing RIGHT before the edge of the map. In the end everyone lived, even Otto, so I set him off to abandon another colony and I'm just going to pretend he never showed up.
Afterwards, Engie threw a party.))
Day 73
Another escape pod crashed on the ice. I happened to be nearby so I rushed over to help and found an injured woman lying in the wreckage. I dragged her in and began patching her up. I'm not letting anyone else die out here.
A lot of things happened at once after that. Red came back from hauling with a report of more mechanoids approaching - two Scythers and a larger Centipede model. We grabbed our guns and made for the defensive line. Thanks to the sandbags and cover of darkness, the scythers didn't manage to hurt us before we took them out. Just as I was celebrating our luck, something snapped in Hakuja and she swung the butt of her rifle at me! Red and I had to restrain her while the Centipede crawled ever closer. Its slow movement gave me an idea. I told Red to get Hakuja inside and lock the door while I led the monster in circles around our settlement, getting close enough to take pot shots at it but never close enough for it to return fire.
Well, it took all night, and my legs feel like they're on fire, but I managed to plink away enough vital parts that the Centipede is now lying disabled on the ice. My victory felt short-lived, though. When I got back Red told me there had been a solar flare that knocked out the heat in our shelter. The survivor we tried to rescue had frozen to death in her bed.
I know we've survived a lot in the last few days and that should be reason to celebrate, but somehow I'm more depressed than ever.
((Author's note: A bit after this Otto showed up AGAIN. This time as a wanderer, though, so I just turned him down. Still, that's kind of uncanny. I wonder if the game somehow knows he was really close by, or if it just has a preference for trying to add pawns that are already generated and have relationships to your colonists. Anyway, when I turned him down I got a message about a breakup. I was worried, but there was no debuff - refusing Otto had made him a member of an enemy faction and therefore hostile. Without the relationship bonus from being married, and the penalty for being hostile, Engie's opinion of her beloved Otto is now -65.))
Day 77
The rooms are finally done. They don't have heating yet, but we're dressed warmly enough to deal with that. it just feels so wonderful to have a bit of privacy again after all those seasons of being crammed into this tiny shelter. Even better, another piece of my ship crashed nearby, which means more steel and components for us.
It's strange. Every time I feel like things are becoming too hard, something little comes along and makes life just bearable enough to keep going. Maybe we really do have a shot at this. I'm starting to think of ways to turn this shelter into a proper outpost.
Day 84
It's been mercifully uneventful this past week, allowing us to get a lot done. We have a comms console up and running, and are all listening intently for the first sign of a trade ship. Our original shelter has been reorganized into a hydroponics room with just enough space left over for one medical sleeping area - it's the only room we have that's warm enough to save someone not dressed for the cold from hypothermia. We've also gotten a lot of hauling and cleaning done, which is nice, because the home area was a disgusting mess. Leaving your room every morning to be greeted by the sight of your own frozen blood on the ice is not a pleasant sight, let me tell you.
Also, some cargo pods dropped in nearby, carrying another load of meat! I have to admit, it's been so long I've almost forgot what a normal meal tastes like. I think we all need a break from the cannabalism. Red and I begin hauling it back so Hakuja can cook it for us. I can hardly wait.
During the night another escape pod landed nearby. The usual fare, no clothes to speak of, doomed to die in the ice. I try to get him to the warmth of the grow room but it's no good. I feel him take his last breath in my arms.
When I dragged his body up to the graves, Hakuji was just staring at me. Slowly, almost reverently, she took the man's body into her arms and declared that she would see to its burial - this was her father.
That night, through the frozen walls of our new rooms, I swear I heard Hakuji cry for the first time.
((Author's note: Apparently I hadn't seen the last of Otto! I got ANOTHER call from him. This time he was being chased by pirates. Well, joke's on you buddy, Engie kind of hates you now so I can safely turn you away. Otto winds up dead, confirmed on Engie's relationship list. No mood bonus, but at least I'll never see him again.))
Quote from: CrazyEyes on January 20, 2017, 06:03:41 AM
Tribals would be damn near impossible. You don't start with electricity, meaning you have to burn wood for heat. You will run out of wood in a matter of days. if you built a TINY hut out of all your silver, and made only sleeping spots for everyone, MAYBE you could research electricity before you ran out of wood to burn. Even so, you probably won't be able to afford a butcher table, and you can't afford to tear apart the bench until you have smelting and hydroponics unlocked. Without a butcher table, once you run out of MREs you're going to have to start eating corpses raw, which is sure to set off a downward spiral of berserk rages.
So it might not be flat-out impossible, but it would probably make this challenge look like a cakewalk.
Tribals don't start with steel....it would be impossible...not near impossible.
Run #4 cont.
Decided to embark for the ship. Took all the nonhuman food, raided the first pirate base, and "destroyed" it due to my warm clothes (??). Grabbed all the food, and headed to an outlander village. sold all the medicine and human leather i had and bought luciferum, cutting my hunger by 1/5th and boosting speed 5%.
Day 65, on the road. Weather is no longer lethal for pirates, makes raiding outposts a lot harder.
caravan system still causes several bugs, causing game crashes that luckily, reload at the last autosave.
Learned that caravans count chocolate as "days of food" BUT will not eat chocolate on their own, causing starvation. JUST BARELY made it to a rather isolated pirate base on day 65, 1 day of food left, but game crashes and the reload DELETES my 33 chocolate i have left. I dev mode a stack of 25 chocolate and turn dev mode off...i don't mind losing to a fluke shot, but not a game crash.
I just BARELY make it into the base, loot the 22 luciferum in there, which helps since i'm down to only 6 (30 days left), and grab all the food i can carry and run for it AS the pirates wake and follow me. JUST make it out. Decide to skip the next pirate base and head out on a 17 day trek to another pirate base....i'm almost to the tundra belt of the planet, where i might settle near the only outlander town i'm still friends with and gain some wealth so i can get a muffalo or two to carry a ton of food at once.
Day 82, arrive at said pirate base.
Wait around....raid said pirate base. Nearly die in the middle of the night as i enter to steal food when one idiot raider ODs and dies from some drug. This wakes all the other raiders and they chase me...i take a couple machine pistol hits, but i escape and settle in the next hex, and heal up in a hastily constructed steel bed. Onto the next pirate base.
Day 90
Arrive at next pirate base and start to despair...The storage area is in the back...and the base is buried in a mountain....i'd have to bash thru the sleeping area to get to the food, no way i could make it in time.
So, i change tactics, I sprint for the mountain side, find a divot, and start mining. 8 squares in and i'm at the wall of the food storage. break the wall as the pirates are going to bed...i've got plenty of time! I load up on meals...then realize that my armor vest is probably unnecessary...dropping it fits me TEN more meals!! I leave the pirate base with 51 meals in total, my 14 remaining luciferium, and 25 wakeup, 2 go juice (may need this), 5 yayo, and 2 smokeleaf joints.
I should be able to reach the tundra belt with this food.
Day 120.
Reached the tundra belt in early Spring...hung around the edge raiding and trying to set up a good path thru, finally setting up a long run thru tundra just as summer ticks over and the movement is fastest. I'll cover 1/3rd of the remaining distance along the tundra in about 6-7 days. Had to do a couple retreats over the last 2 seasons, but didn't let food reach such critical stages, so it wasn't an issue. Aiming at a nice little trio of settlements...a hostile outlander town, pirate base, and friendly outlander town, all nearby. Going to hit the pirate base, sell it all at the outlander town and buy luciferium and enough food to return to the pirate base, then make a break for the ship.
No settling down for Engie....Rich Glitterworlder or not, this iceball is NOT what she signed up for. (however this goes, i copied the save file right before i made the decision to leave for the ship, so I can go back and play it through "the other way" without going through the tedious and luck-based first 20 days....even though my actual run wasn't that lucky overall.
Quote from: Limdood on January 20, 2017, 09:01:40 AM
Quote from: CrazyEyes on January 20, 2017, 06:03:41 AM
Tribals would be damn near impossible. You don't start with electricity, meaning you have to burn wood for heat. You will run out of wood in a matter of days. if you built a TINY hut out of all your silver, and made only sleeping spots for everyone, MAYBE you could research electricity before you ran out of wood to burn. Even so, you probably won't be able to afford a butcher table, and you can't afford to tear apart the bench until you have smelting and hydroponics unlocked. Without a butcher table, once you run out of MREs you're going to have to start eating corpses raw, which is sure to set off a downward spiral of berserk rages.
So it might not be flat-out impossible, but it would probably make this challenge look like a cakewalk.
Tribals don't start with steel....it would be impossible...not near impossible.
Mood debuff - Kill off four, keep the best colonist.
Resource shortage - Not enough steel to start with a smelter or a comms console, meaning you'd have to wait for enough chunks to fall to create them.
Reliable heat shortage - Covered by a lucky parka drop.
Food shortage - Engie started with 40 packaged survival meals, tribals get less than half that, and a 50% chance of starting malnourished.
Possible? Yes.
Fun? Not to me.
Quote from: Sola on January 20, 2017, 03:28:06 PM
Resource shortage - Not enough steel to start with a smelter or a comms console, meaning you'd have to wait for enough chunks to fall to create them.
How? you can't research. Tribals start with no steel and there is no steel to mine. you can't build a research bench. you can't research anything. You're literally just using up resources HOPING you get an orbital drop specifically of steel.
You COULD get an ascetic cannibal, meaning raw cannibalism is fantastic (do they start with enough wood for a campfire and a butcher table?). Its still waiting for SPECIFICALLY a steel orbital drop or a super early psychic ship or siege.
If someone actually pulled off a sea ice tribal start successfully, i'd be flabbergasted.
I was assuming the same starting resources as Engie gets. Without steel it'd be entirely down to luck - you'd need cargo pods of steel or ship chunks within the first, like, two days or you're just dead.
Quote from: Sola on January 20, 2017, 03:28:06 PM
Quote from: Limdood on January 20, 2017, 09:01:40 AM
Quote from: CrazyEyes on January 20, 2017, 06:03:41 AM
Tribals would be damn near impossible. You don't start with electricity, meaning you have to burn wood for heat. You will run out of wood in a matter of days. if you built a TINY hut out of all your silver, and made only sleeping spots for everyone, MAYBE you could research electricity before you ran out of wood to burn. Even so, you probably won't be able to afford a butcher table, and you can't afford to tear apart the bench until you have smelting and hydroponics unlocked. Without a butcher table, once you run out of MREs you're going to have to start eating corpses raw, which is sure to set off a downward spiral of berserk rages.
So it might not be flat-out impossible, but it would probably make this challenge look like a cakewalk.
Tribals don't start with steel....it would be impossible...not near impossible.
Mood debuff - Kill off four, keep the best colonist.
Resource shortage - Not enough steel to start with a smelter or a comms console, meaning you'd have to wait for enough chunks to fall to create them.
Reliable heat shortage - Covered by a lucky parka drop.
Food shortage - Engie started with 40 packaged survival meals, tribals get less than half that, and a 50% chance of starting malnourished.
Possible? Yes.
Fun? Not to me.
Hmm I'm pretty sure they start with steel, or at least they did in the previous alpha. But on an ice sheet I make 5 research benches and am either researching or hunting polar bears which is about the only benefit of having so many mouths to feed is that you have plenty of bait.
sorry, i misundertood. I thought we were talking about tribals on sea ice, not ice sheet.
Nvm
The most common early source of steel is "A spacecraft chunk has fallen nearby", which drops 30 steel and 8-10 components per chunk, at a rate of 1-4 chunks per event. One chunk is all you need to make a research bench. This will happen much earlier, and is much more common than the orbital drop of steel, or the crashed ship parts (poison/psychic).
My attempt. Good game, guys.
Diary; Entry 1
It's near the end of day.. I think it's day 8. I can't tell. It's so scary out here, I've already lost count... I used a piece of wood to make a make-shift diary, so that I can hopefully help the next person to read this, hopefully they can use my dead body and my small hut, to aid them...
Diary; Entry 2
I just woke up, it's about day 9.. Something happened, I fell asleep in my bed instantly. I'm waiting for a trade ship, I think that's what they're called, from the books I read at my research bench; don't even know how I managed the research bench in this craziness.
DiaryEntry 3
Same day... I just got a new guy, a caveworld tunneler. I think the irony is making me want to kill them.. No. I have to be good. I'm not going to kill them. (I also researched electric smelting first, possible mistake)
Diary; Entry 4
I'm sorry. I had to kill him.. His meat just looked so tender.. He was napping, and I'm sorry.
DiaryEntry 5
Wow, I didn't even realize it was day 11. Just woke up to a raid. They sent me a letter about it, for some reason. Shouldn't be much to worry about, gonna go handle that.
Diary; Entry 6
I'm sorry, I had to commit murder.. They scared me. They were trying to kill me. Right after.. There was a flashstorm. I think the Gods are mad at me.
Dairy; Entry 7
I just woke up.. It seems to be about 6 or 7, and I was awoken to a large CLANG, right as a pod fell down.. I'm going to go look and see if anyone is there.
Dairy; Entry 8
I'm so, so, so sorry to her family.. I put her near the stockpile... I know I need a cannibal, or a psychopath.. She was good, but not good enough. I'm sorry to everyone.
Dairy; Entry 9
It's day 13; I finished Hydroponics today.. Finally, I have hydroponics, electric smelting, and turrets. I don't know what to research anymore. Uhh,
Diary; Entry 10
I just realized I have amazing clothes.. I don't know when this happened. Everything has been a blurr.
Diary; Entry 11
Daily check-in: I'm running low on food. About ~15 meals left.. I just saw a Thrumbo, though.
Diary; Entry 12
It's day 14 now.. I was awoken by a giant explosion... There goes my power... Followed by a raid. I'll be back, after this g- INCINDIARY LAUNCHER!?!?
That was easy. They died before they even came towards us; did they want to wait to freeze?
Diary; Entry 13
Wow. Day 15. A nudist, psychically sensitive depressive actor. Why am I even here?
Diary; Entry 14
I think life is trying to kill me.
I just got a psychiatric patient, pessimist, pyromaniac, with literally every stat except for animals, either disabled or 0. Great.
Also... Luciferium need.
Heh. The raiders captured him, jokes on them; he died before he left.
(Editor's note: the place I'm writing this messed up, and deleted the next 2-3 entries, so, they might not be as good/bad as normal)
Diary; Entry 15
I blacked out for a little there. I think I was butchering and went crazy..
When I woke up, a guy was dying right next to me. I looked at him, and I thought it was worth the risk.
I saved him. I know I shouldn't have, but I did. I hope it wasn't a bad decision.
Crap. He can't withstand the temperatures... I'll try my best to watch him, until we get more clothes.
Diary; Entry 16
He got Sensory Mechanites too. I have to try to treat it, to get rid of it.. It's going to drive me crazy.
Whilst treating him, a battery exploded. Then a bunch of other stuff, which I rapidly fixed.
Diary; Entry 17
Michael went berserk. He attacked me. I'm sorry, Michael. I had to fight back. He lived, but it scares me now, to sleep next to him.
Diary; Entry 18
I'm crying, now.. He died of hypothermia, since the door was stuck open, and he froze to death.
Diary; Entry 15
Day 18.. I'm probably depressed, now. This life is trying to kll me.
Raiders, being dropped off in the middle of Antarctica, forced to kill people and nearly eat their flesh.. I had to kill someone else, today. A wanderer. I didn't want to force him to go through this, too.
Diary; Entry 16
Day 21. I just got a bulk goods trader; thank god.
Bought ~700 steel, ~400 wood. Made a tailoring bench, Electric Smelting, and an Electric Stove. MAybe the meat will taste better if it looks like a meal. It's just like Spaghetti.
Diary; Entry 17
Oh, god. I was being attacked, yet again, and in the middle of it, I didn't feel so well.. I think I read something about this one. Sensory Mechanites.. Makes them feel pain, but makes them better at certain things.
At least, I think so.
Diary; Entry 18
Oh, god. I can't remember what happened.. I think I was cooking some "spaghetti."
I woke up to see a guy near our house, he was on the floor, shaking, covered in bumps.. I helped him inside, and turned on the heater so he could heat up. I think I need to save him.
Diary; Entry 19
It's day 31. I can't remember much.. I went on an insane mental berserk thing, since I was eating raw human meat.. I'll start cooking those into meals, despite it being so disgusting..
I just feel terrible about all the deaths. I hope my diary stops many other deaths.
Diary; Entry 20
I just had an insane idea... Luciferium. If I can get a bulk goods trader with hundreds of it.. I might just try it. If it helps me get out of this prison of ice, I'll do anything to get out. Even die.
(Author's note: A pirate merchant just left. Power was out for a solar flare a day ago, fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhh)
Diary; Entry 21
I just got raided, and they decided to wait.. One guy I saw had a suit, it looked like muffalo, and it was a parka. I really needed that for a friend. They decided to run, though... So sad.
Diary; Entry 22
While writing this, some counselor offered to join, if I fight off the bandits.
I don't want to "offer safety"... If I do, he's nearly guaranteed to die. But.. He'd die anyways from the bandits. Right? Right? Right. Yeah.
Diary; Entry 23
He's a depressive, neurotic Pyromaniac. He wouldn't have lived anywhere, I hope.. I apologize to his family. I'm sure his childhood stories were great.
help... I got shot by a robot.. instant hit my ribs.. broken. one hit.. I hope everyone else benefits from this... warning.. robots are scary..
Diary; Entry 24
Via the power of *cough cough* magic..
I'm not dead.. Sorry. It was likely just a bad dream *definitely not called alt + f4 ragequit*
I made a horse shoe pin. Now I won't be as mental! :D
Diary; Entry 25
Day 44.. It's been a while since a journal/diary entry. Nothing at all has happened, honestly.. Just butchering people.. still scary.
Diary; Entry 26
Well, my luck. Day 45, got a double raid. I mean, neither of them got to my base, but just kinda funny.. "OH NO< DOUBLE RAID"
"nevermind, they both died"
Also, my mechanites are gone. Thank god.
Diary; Entry 27
Oh, god. It's one of those scary robots from my *definitely a dream*
I can handle him. I can handle him. I can handle HIM.
Diary; Entry 28
I'm morbid. I think this whole thing has changed me.
I killed him. I ripped off his right arm, then. Then I shut him down.
I don't feel bad about killing it. Not one bit.
(Author's Note: I instantly had a mental break after writing this).
Diary; Entry 29
Day 54.. I was mining a ship chunk, then I saw one of those robot guys. I'll make my next entry when I'm back home.
Author;
I died. He got 2 lucky shots off. Good game, guys.
Quote from: Limdood on January 20, 2017, 07:42:41 PM
sorry, i misundertood. I thought we were talking about tribals on sea ice, not ice sheet.
Nvm
I was just referencing ice sheet because I've yet to try sea ice. As I said I'm still on my first playthrough of the new alpha.
How do you survive this after you run out of MREs because currently, I'm resorting to human flesh and Engie is not happy
Cooked human meat is the way to go - make sure you keep a decent stock of meals too, 30 or so, so that they never run out and decide to eat some raw flesh while you're not looking because you got too busy/injured to keep cooking. Even so, you can expect a constant -10 to -13 penalty if they are eating twice a day.
Try to keep her life as nice as possible in other ways to compensate. Don't underestimate the power of a horseshoes pin. Make individual rooms for everyone when you can afford it. Eliminating the "shared bedroom" and "disturbed sleep" debuffs help a lot. If you can get your hands on beer or smokeleaf, tell them to use it once a day if their mood drops below 50% to insulate them from mental breaks.
During all this, the sooner you get hydroponics working the better. Just know that Engie and company will have mental breaks - probably even a lot of them. If you can keep the severity and frequency down to something manageable, consider that a win.
Quote from: norty2games on January 21, 2017, 12:38:19 AM
How do you survive this after you run out of MREs because currently, I'm resorting to human flesh and Engie is not happy
Hydroponics is your first research. You will have this done long before you can take advantage of it.
Get the resources to build hydroponics from either bulk goods trader (comms console) or electric smelting. You have enough to build only one, and building the comms console first is gambling, while the smelter is safer, but slower. The bonus of bulk goods trader is that you can also buy meals/meat off them, too.
Every time a wanderer joins, let that guy butcher some people before he dies. Save the human sausage for when you need it. If Engie's not doing the butchering, her mood is affected less.
Every time a wanderer joins, steal their meals. They always come with a couple.
I'm not saying "You'll never need to resort to cannibalism", but there's a chance you might not.
Playthru #4 Finished.
Reached the ship at 6PM on day 185. Obviously not the intended method to complete this challenge, but it was fun (at the start...got pretty boring and my computer bogged down bad for the second half)
(http://C:%5CProgram%20Files%20(x86)%5CSteam%5Cuserdata%5C92387950%5C760%5Cremote%5C294100%5Cscreenshots%5C20170121113859_1)
Hey, the challenge is to "survive by any means possible" so I'd say that absolutely counts! I'm a bit too invested in my current outpost to pack it all up and leave but I might try that on my next run.
At this point I've stopped logging every single cargo pod, wanderer and escape pod event that happens unless it leads to something interesting. There are only so many ways to say "oh look, cargo pods of boomrat leather, that's useless to me but the slag will be helpful." Plus, if I made up a story about how I tried and failed to rescue every damn crashlander or wanderer who shows up without any clothes and dies before I can drag them into the shelter (or is worthless to begin with and therefore left on the ice) this journal would be twice as long.
Just assume that there's a wanderer or escape pod every 1-2 days and cargo pods every 5-7 that you're not seeing.
Day 96
Has it really been that long since I updated this log? I guess that's just an indication of how quiet things have been lately. No matter how calm things get, though, it feels like we never quite manage to get ahead of all the work there is to do. There are slag chunks still sitting on the ice that have been there for seasons and nobody has had the time to haul in, even though we need the steel.
Well today, something happened. Seven or so pirates came to raid our outpost. I guess they figured if we can survive out here we must have something worth taking. Well, here's the priceless secret to our survival: wool parkas. Might want to look into it for next time. We got some new guns without having to do any fighting, so I can't really complain.
Our good mood didn't last, though, as someone somewhere else on this desolate world must have activated an ancient mechanoid structure. Everyone here can feel it like an evil pulse in our heads. I swear if I listen closesly enough I can hear voices. I should stop listening. Hope it ends soon.
Day 98
Red came into the outpost tonight being quieter than usual. When I asked what was wrong, she said that her sister had crashed in an escape pod nearby but had died of exposure. I tried to console her but she just said it didn't matter and went to bed. I can tell it's upset her a great deal, though. I'll retrieve the body and bury it for her. It feels like the least I can do.
Day 99
A passing wanderer who goes by Cyber noticed our predicament and offered to give us a hand. I'm not saying no to more help at this point. I hope we're not taking him in just so he can be ripped apart by mechanoids or frozen to death by the elements.
Day 103
Some cargo pods crashed nearby containing chocolate! God, I haven't tasted anything but human meat in so long. This should help everyone keep it together.
Day 106
Everything has been so hard lately. Everyone is fighting constantly, over the silliest things. Even I'm having a hard time keeping it together sometimes. I worry that if things don't start improving around here we're going to tear each other apart.
To make matters worse, a huge group of tribals has arrived to try and rob or kidnap us. We're not in the best condition to defend ourselves from two dozen savages, but maybe the cold will do our work for us. It's -115C outside and they seem to be massing just on the edge of our view to discuss tactics. As expected, many of the do not survive the planning process and the survivors decide to retreat, leaving their friends unburied on the ice.
Day 109
I awoke this morning to a soothing feeling blanketed over my thoughts. I don't like the idea of a foreign presence in my mind, but if it keeps us calm for a day or two I'll take what I can get. Some cargo pods also landed nearby, carrying a small amount of silver. I never thought I'd see the day when money just rained from the sky, heh. Still, it's not very useful unless a trader shows up. We haven't heard a peep from our comms console and we desperately need trade if we're going to survive out here.
Day 111
We've had cargo pods crash near us with all manner of things, but finally some arrived with the most valuable thing of all: steel! We drop everything (I mean, not literally, ever scrap of equipment is precious) and get to hauling. This will help us expand our power grid and hydroponics setup.
Day 117
Another wanderer named Norman has come by offering to help us. He's not actually good at much of anything, but at this point another pair of hands to haul, clean, and hold a gun are a welcome addition. I tell him to join, sigh, and head out to rescue him when I see that he's only wearing pants. How do people dressed like that not die of exposure until they show up on our doorstep? Nevertheless, we get him indoors before he freezes.
Another mechanoid ship part crashed nearby, but without the usual accompaniment of poisonous thoughts in our minds. this one does seem to be leaking some sort of toxic fog, though. That can't be good for our health, but at least it's spreaiding slowly. With five of us we stand a much better shot at surviving whatever's inside that thing, too.
Day 118
Red died today. She had been running around the stockpile shouting, and when Norman got close she picked a fight. Norman defended himself, but... Red was already hurt, and somehow he must have hit her too hard or something, and... well, she didn't make it. I'm going to miss her. She had her faults, but she helped me survive when everything seemed to be at its worst and she didn't deserve to go out like that. I think I'll bury her next to her sister. She would have liked that.
Day 120
We've barely had a chance to mourn Red and already we got throwin into the meat grinder again. A fugitive named Lilith asked us to defend her from pursuing pirates. I agreed, because if there's anything I can do to lessen the horror doled out by this hated place I'm going to do it. Well, she didn't mention she was fleeing in a drop pod, and that the pirates were right behind her. They landed in the middle of our base, and several of us were badly injured. We only barely managed to force a retreat before suffering a total defeat at their hands.
Lilith is very grateful, but tensions are still quite high. She says she can't help with hauling or cleaning due to a "condition" (she won't go into detail) but would be happy to help with any crafting or artisan work we need done. She's also a decent doctor, and showed up wearing a glitterworld tech powered helmet, which does nothing to insulate her from the cold but might be worth selling if a trade ship ever visits us.
Day 121
More cargo pods of steel! this will help our efforts considerably. Not much more to say, we're all focused on getting back on our feet after the last week.
Day 125
A trade ship arrived! It was only a textiles trader, so we weren't able to buy any wood, steel or stone to expand our base with. However, they were willing to take the mountains of raider clothes we've accumulated off our hands and our stockpiles are no longer in danger of overflowing. They also sold us a great deal of muffalo wool, which will be of trememdous value once we can start making our own clothes. The silver we got out of the deal we can spend on a bulk goods trader once one does arrive.
Unfortunately, right after this the constant brawling got out of hand again as Norman accidentally killed Lilith in a blind rage. I wonder if we didn't make a mistake bringing him in. If something good can happen - just one good thing - then I know we can all make it through this. I just know it.
Day 129
We survived another mechanoid attack today. I think they are smart enough to know that their servos will freeze up if the temperature gets low enough because they only seem to attack in the spring and summer. regardless, we killed the two scythers by hunkering down behind our defenses and out-shooting them, then I killed a Centipede by kiting it with my sniper rifle while Hakuji, Norman and Cyber dealt with the other one by luring it into the base and surrounding it at close range.
Day 130
Hakuja came out of the hydroponics room today with her eyes red and grinning like an idiot. She came up to me and handed me a smokeleaf joint. I asked incredulously where she'd gotten her hands on it, and she said she grew it! I was about to be mad, but she said we were able to grow so little food anyway that this would keep people in a better mood then two or three paltry rice meals. She has a point, so I let it slide. Mental note: expand food production as soon as possible.
Day 134
Today I caught Cyber and Hakuja kissing behind the hydroponics room. Hakuja seemed embarassed but Cyber couldn't stop grinning. I was in the middle of congratulating them when a conduit exploded right behind us. I just about jumped out of my skin. We got the fire beaten out but Cyber was burned pretty badly - we think his left lung might have collapsed. Poor Hakuja.
...alright, I guess I should write this down too. Norman has been hitting on me recently as well, but... well, he seems nice, but frankly he's a bit lazy, and I just can't see past the fact that he killed Red, self-defense or no. Maybe in time... but maybe not.
Day 138
Another group of pirates showed up today. Cyber spotted them first, and he ran back to tell the rest of us. We manned our defensive line as they chanrged past the poison ship part (oh wow, I forgot about that... we'll have to deal with that next) and attacked.
Day 140
I woke up in the hospital. One of the attackers had a shield and a sword, and managed to get close enough to slash me before we could bring him down. I blacked out, and only vaugely remember being dragged into the hospital amidst a lot of shouting.
Hakuja was sitting beside me with a worried look in her eye. I tried to shift my weight to get a better look at her, and that's when I felt it. My left arm had something heavy at the end of it... and I couldn't feel my hand anymore. Hakuja shifted uncomfotably as a I looked down. My hand was gone. In its place was an ugly hunk of metal bandaged to the end of the stump. In a haze, I vaugely recognized the scyther blade I'd thought to salvage after the very first attack.
"It's all we had," Hakuja said simply.
:'(
I really felt for Engie when I saw that her hand was gone, though from a storywriting perspective it turned the scyther blade I mentioned waaaay back into a neat little Chekov's Gun. The poor girl is already missing her right thumb and ring finger thanks to frostbite, and now she has a giant sword instead of a left hand. She only has three fingers left. It's gonna be hard for her to get any crafting done now, and she's going to be garbage at shooting and performing surgery. She just got a lot more fearsome in melee combat, though. I do have EPOE installed - I wasn't going to touch it since it might make the later game too easy, but now I might have to in order to make Engie useful again. Maybe a prosthesis trader will come along and we can blow all our silver on a shiny new bionic hand.
Also, things are getting INCREDIBLY difficult now that I have extra people. Feeding them isn't the problem, although I'm probably breaking some sort of record for going the longest without getting a decent hydroponics setup going. No, the problem is the constant extreme mental breaks everyone keeps going though. I do my best to keep everyone happy, but as soon as someone goes berserk they're bound to start fighting another person. The two end up hospitalized, and the pain from the injuries almost fully negates the catharsis buff. While they're healing up they can't get any useful work done, and are that much more in danger of a lucky shot killing them. I didn't kill Red and Lilith on purpose - they died because they had been beaten so badly over the course of so many berserk rages, either theirs or others', that a punch or two from someone was all it took to kill them. The constant cycle of rage-fight-debuff-rage is absolutely tanking productivity to the point where it's hard to even ensure a steady supply of meals are being cooked. And of course, if someone gets impatient and decides to eat some raw human meat from right next to the stove, that's another -15 stacked on top of everything else.
I am determined, though. I can do this. I will not stop until I have either launched Engie into outer space or the outpost is a smouldering ruin on the ice. >:(
http://www.zupimages.net/viewer.php?id=17/03/klmn.jpg
I cried a lot... :'(
Are there any reasons whatsover to stay in a Sea Ice biome when you can just ragequit in A16 ? Are there any advantages over any other biome ? I get it there's challenge and bragging rights, but in A16 we can form caravans so there seems to be no rational in-game reason to stay.
Well, there's this community challenge where people try to ... oh, wait. :P
I don't think there's an advantage in sea ice good enough to outweight the costs. Would be different if mechas would freeze to the floor. Currently doing a permafrost tundra to acclimatise for even colder stuff in the future, I do that for fun. Everybody can do easy.
Quote from: b0rsuk on January 23, 2017, 11:39:31 AM
Are there any reasons whatsover to stay in a Sea Ice biome when you can just ragequit in A16 ?
Temperature is used as a defense. Thrumbos and human raids are both taken care of by nature. Moving to a warmer climate negates this.
The floor reduces move speed to about 24%, between heavy snow and the natural ice ground. This buys you a lot of time to get your affairs in order if you need to set your defenses up.
After you're past the hard parts (lacking a reliable source of food, energy), it's the most easily defended base. Additionally, if you've already set it up, leaving causes problems with logistics and materials being left behind.
So it's similar to ice sheet, just worse ? Does it have any advantage over ice sheet ?
Quote from: b0rsuk on January 23, 2017, 11:39:31 AM
Are there any reasons whatsover to stay in a Sea Ice biome when you can just ragequit in A16 ? Are there any advantages over any other biome ? I get it there's challenge and bragging rights, but in A16 we can form caravans so there seems to be no rational in-game reason to stay.
Advantage over similarly cold ice sheets, none at all that I can think of. You can't leave until you acquire a wool parka though, and it's a huge risk if you don't have at least a second colonist that can bandage wounds.
Quote from: Thyme on January 23, 2017, 01:29:07 PM
I don't think there's an advantage in sea ice good enough to outweight the costs. Would be different if mechas would freeze to the floor.
Mechanoids have a minimum temperature of -100C, Human factions -40C. After the 45 day minimum passes, whenever the outdoor temperature is between -40C and -100C, you're guaranteed mechanoid raids (except for refugees, I believe). Below -100C, the raid faction selection has to ignore the minimum temperature to be able to pick any faction at all, so you're back to mostly human raids in the fall & winter, which either quickly freeze to death (providing meat and leather) or wear wool parkas (providing wool parkas). So the absurd coldness provides a significant benefit after you acquire your first cold weather gear.
I went back to my copied save file i made before i left on my sojourn to the ship.
REALLY irritating. Got enough supplies to get a stove up, dealt with some bad moods for a while as i carved up all the bodies right before my packaged meals ran out. -10-13 for cooked cannibalism is no problem at all without butchered bodies debuff...and i have nearly 2k human meat.
The really irritating part though, is that i built the communications array and orbital beacon on like day 3 or 4. After 1 whole year, not a single trade ship of ANY kind. So i give up. I'll eventually get the resources to get things running without it, by taking apart comm and beacon and making a smelter to start getting hydroponics going, but its just annoying, my stockpile is huge and overflowing and USELESS, and I still can't get another colony member...the pods, wanderers, and refugees never survive to the base, and it gets boring watching engie research and dig graves.
Ah, didn't know that. Was only at -50°C in winter so far, I guess that's not too far from break even.
Is it possible to have animals at such temperatures? Most of them wouldn't survive a solar flare, no?
Quote from: Thyme on January 23, 2017, 05:20:41 PM
Ah, didn't know that. Was only at -50°C in winter so far, I guess that's not too far from break even.
Is it possible to have animals at such temperatures? Most of them wouldn't survive a solar flare, no?
-50C is nothing. This challenge gets as low as -140C. I know that Thrumbos are comfortable until.. uh... -80C, I think? They almost survive in the summer in this challenge. I don't have the stats for other furry animals on hand, so I'm not sure if they're capable of surviving outside of this challenge. As for surviving a solar flare, you can simply restrict them to a small room and place a campfire.
Thrumbo are comfy down to -65. Muffalo are the next closest, at -60. It's probably possible to maintain animals once you're resource rich, but anything less hardy than muffalo will need campfires to survive flares, and even muffalo will for longer flares in the winter.
While wood is import only and needs micro to set up. How far below/above comfy temperature can animals go without frostbite/heatstroke? I've never seen a health condition so far, even when 20°C off. Snowhares have -70°C btw.
I'm using a geysir to keep my greenhouse + boomrat warm (reduce heating cost), but you don't even have that in Sea Ice. Heating with an incendiary launcher/cocktails?
Throwing molotovs into a small stone room with a vent honestly sounds kind of brilliant. You don't even need to have anything to burn, the fires will sustain themselves for a while and you can pipe the heat into a couple of vital areas. You probably want two pawns drafted - one to throw bottles and one on the other side of the vent to put it out when it catches fire.
Maybe not the most practical heating system, but certainly interesting.
Just throw them right in the barn, with zone setting to prevent animals catching fire or pawns putting them out. Chemfuel stockpiles could also work, but are not free and micro intense to get small stacks. Definitely not practical, but maybe sufficient to bypass flares.
Does chemfuel burn hotter/longer than other items? If not, what about something like dead man's cloth parkas and/or tribal weapons? That wouldn't set you back much since raids are constantly restocking your supply and since you can only have one per tile anyway there's no micro involved. You could even set the stockpile to accept only the most damaged goods (say, 30% and below) to ensure you are burning what's mostly garbage anyway.
Quote from: Thyme on January 24, 2017, 02:17:10 AM
While wood is import only and needs micro to set up. How far below/above comfy temperature can animals go without frostbite/heatstroke? I've never seen a health condition so far, even when 20°C off. Snowhares have -70°C btw.
I'm using a geysir to keep my greenhouse + boomrat warm (reduce heating cost), but you don't even have that in Sea Ice. Heating with an incendiary launcher/cocktails?
I also missed polar bears, which have -80°C.
When pawns are within 10°C of their "comfy" temperature, they do no accumulate any hypothermia/heatstroke. When they are >10°C and <21°C below their comfy temperature, they accumulate hypothermia at a rate that should put them at risk of frostbite in about half a day. Colder than that, and it starts to accumulate more quickly. At 125°C below their min comfy temperature, pawns will collapse from extreme hypothermia in 2 hours.
Thank you.
Okay, I checked and Sea Ice biome is just a strictly worse version of Ice Sheet. Like Ice Sheet, but with less resources. There's no difference in temperature. Sea Ice is not inherently colder or anything.
I like some harsher biomes because they put emphasis on different set of items or machines, like heaters, parkas, wool, jackets etc. But Sea Ice just removes some options and that's it. You're playing a more limited game. I could understand if the extra challenge came from something additional, like regular blizzards that actually deal damage to pawns and structures, and can cause mounds of snow.
Removing options shifts the priorities of what you need to get and when. The extra challenge comes from the neccessity to squezze the game mechanics even more.
Quote from: Thyme on January 26, 2017, 08:29:37 AM
Removing options shifts the priorities of what you need to get and when. The extra challenge comes from the neccessity to squezze the game mechanics even more.
Translation: hydroponic tables solve all problems.
Quote from: b0rsuk on January 26, 2017, 11:47:09 AM
Translation: hydroponic tables solve all problems.
Oh do they?
*Someone* hasn't actually tried the challenge...
First off, good luck getting a hydro table. Second, solar flares are a thing. And if you get shot once you're likely to just bleed out since you had to eat everyone that showed up so there's nobody to treat you. And even when you finally get that rice planted, a single mental break could leave you naked and frozen in the middle of the wasteland.
Just figuring out how to build your shelter on day 1 so that you don't freeze to death before it's warmed up enough to keep you alive takes a few tries to get right. No rock to mine into or build against, no geyser to build around. I wouldn't bother building walls out of silver on a regular ice sheet, but on sea ice you really have to stretch out the wood and steel you start with or you won't live long enough to trade the silver for anything.
Instead of just speculating about the differences, you should try it.
Why didn't you have Engie tend either of them?
I haven't had a lot of chances to play now that the semester has started again, but I made some progress tonight. Here's what happened:
Day 141
Norman brought me some chocolate to try and cheer me up. He said it landed in some cargo pods nearby. I nearly decapitated him when I went to reach for it with my left hand and accidentally extended the telescoping blade.
I think I broke down crying for a while. Norman sat quietly for a while, but eventually had to go back to his work. He left the chocolate.
I can still do this.
Day 142
I awoke sometime in the night to the sound of gunfire. I had to fumble around in the dark for my rifle, and when I finally found it I realized there was no way I'd be able to weild it properly now. I choked back a sob and ran outside to see what was happening, but it was already over. Norman said a large group of tribals had showed up and tried to swarm the defenses, but had given up after we killed enough of them. I angrily demanded to know why nobody had gotten me and immediately wished I hadn't. Norman glanced at my hand and then tried very hard to look away. Dejected, I dropped my rifle on the ground and walked back to my room. I passed Hakuja on the way and I swear I heard her humming to herself. At least all the violence and loss puts someone in a good mood. I felt like using her to see just how sharp my new blade was.
Before I'd even slept four hours Norman exploded into my room. I was tired and angry, and I was going to scream at him but before I could he said that a prosthesis trader had just radioed in.
I don't know how long I just sat there, dumbfounded. I couldn't believe my luck. Norman ran over and shook me out of bed and I almost knocked Cyber down running to the comms console.
The trader didn't have any proper hand replacements, but they did have a bionic power claw. It costs half our silver, and I'll still look a bit disfigured, but at least this thing was designed for human operation and will work almost as well as my hand did. Cyber helped me detatch the scyther blade and grafted the claw to the end of my arm. I still feel like crying, but this time it's from relief. I'm not a cripple anymore.
((Author's note: Well, that was a pretty incredible stroke of luck. I was expecting the scyther blade to be this whole thing, and kind of looking forward to writing it to be honest. Then four days later a prosthesis trader shows up and Engie's back to 98% efficency with her left hand. I guess I can't complain, but it's a bit of an anticlimax. It really did cost about half my silver, though, so that's going to hurt somewhat if a bulk goods trader ever does come by. Ultimately I decided it was worth it to keep Engie a decent worker and let her help in a fight without risking her in melee. I still have all sorts of looted tribal weapons to sell in case a combat supplier shows up, so I'm not too worried.
Also, she will be significantly less dangerous in a berserk rage holding a gun than she would be with a sword for a hand.))
Day 145
Another prosthesis trader? That's odd. They don't have anything better than the power claw, and they weren't interested in buying the scyther blades we recovered. Oh well. If we ever really needed to, those could turn a person into a really terrifying fighter up close... but I don't think I could put anyone through that. Those few days were the worst of my life.
Day 149
Another tribal raid today. Nobody was injured in the attack. Not by the attackers, at least. I sort of winged Hakuja with my assault rifle on accident. I guess I'm not fully used to the new hand yet.
After the attack, though, Norman collapsed. We rushed him back to his room and Hakuja, still bleeding, said it looked like he had symptoms of the plague. God only knows how he managed to catch a disease out here on the ice. Well, we brought him to my room (the silver my bed is made of helps keep it clean, so he'll recover faster) and broke out the medicine so Hakuja could treat him.
I hope he pulls through. I know he killed Red, but that wasn't really his fault. And he's sweet. He makes me think of Otto, wherever he is. I hope he comes back to me.
A psychic ship crashed here in the night. I was going to save this ploy for the coldest night of winter, but we can't afford to keep waiting now. Let's crack it open and see if mechanoids freeze.
Day 152
Norman is going to be alright. Hakuja says he's no longer in danger and will get better on his own from now on. I'm really glad. We need his help with that mechanoid ship. And... things wouldn't be the same without him.
Day 153
Norman kissed me today. We were getting our weapons together so we'd be ready to hit the mechanoid ship, and he pulled me aside. He told me how much I meant to him, and that we shouldn't be afraid of being together just because things are hard. And he kissed me. And I kissed him back. I was so caught up in the moment I couldn't help it. And I do like Norman... a lot. He's smart and kind and he was there for me when I was at my lowest. But...
I still miss Otto. I don't know what happened to him after he went off in search of another colony, and I can't give up hope that he'll come back. But it's already been so long. Surely we would have heard something by now, anything to let us know that he was still....
I need to go. Work to do.
Day 154
While we were stacking up to assault the mechanoid ship some cargo pods full of rice crashed nearby. Maybe we can cook up a victory meal if we live through this.
Mechanoids do not freeze. They must have some kind of internal heating system to keep their circuits at a stable operating temperature. That was a pretty big dissapointment, but thankfully we prepared for the worst. We managed to get a couple of improvised turrets built and set them up in front of the defensive line and hauled over one of our batteries to power them. It was expensive, but it gave the mechanoids something else to shoot at. Cyber also decided to throw EMP grenades since he's not that great of a shot with a rifle. Between the turrets and the grenades we actually managed to take out the mechanoids without sustaining any injuries! We did lose a turret, but that just means it did its job.
I'm just so glad I can't feel that thing in my head anymore.
Day 156
Hakuja and Cyber are getting married! They told us this morning. I'm glad people are beginning to find happiness out here despite the horrible conditions. I'll help Hakuja organize the party, and hopefully a trader comes along soon so we can start to build proper accomodations for everyone.
Day 157
A pair of thrumbos collapsed near our outpost today after trying to cross the ice. I'm saddened to see any of these creatures die but at least it means we'll eat well for a while.
Also, we really nee to start asking more questions about people who say they're fleeing from pirates. It seems like most of the time that means we're about to have a raid drop on our heads. This time it was someone by the name of Bluejay who asked for our help. It was the middle of the night, so we all got up and started shooting from our rooms, but there was no time for Bluejay to get into cover - the pirates killed him. then they decided to grab what they could and flee, nearly making off with all our good medicine before Norman managed to gun down two more of them and send them into a full-blown retreat. good riddance.
We were about to go back to bed when the comms console lit up, this time with a pirate merchant! odd timing, but I'm not complaining. They probably won't have much in the way of building supplies but they should be willing to take all our useless weapons off our hands.
Day 158
We sold all our worthless tribal weapons and looted clothes, making back around 2000 silver (hey, that just paid for my new hand) and buying 80 smokeleaf jointes to help keep everyone in a good mood. Just as we closed the channel, a group of tribals showed up and began preparing to attack. Maybe the merchant will stick around long enough to buy their weapons too.
They didn't. Oh well. Better start digging some new graves. Corpses are unsightly, you know.
Day 160
A wanderer named Wobber asked if he could join our colony today. I agreed, and he's on his way now. He's apparently a very good negotiator, which should help when the next trader comes by, and another pair of hands to help with the hauling is always welcome.
A few hours later, a group of sappers showed up. The cold wasn't enough to deter them, but our bullets were. Naturally one of our conduits took this opportunity to explode. Nothing important was destroyed, but the sudden loss of power killed our crop of smokeleaf right before harvest.
Day 162
Another plume of toxic ash has envelloped the region. Nothing to do but stay under cover and wait for it to pass.
Day 164
Otto, if you're out there, I'm sorry. I can't wait any more. It's been more than a year since you left me without saying goodbye, and I haven't heard a single thing from you since then. One way or another, I feel like you're gone for good.
Norman proposed to me today. I said yes. We've been through so much together - I love him. He loves me. And he's here for me. And I don't ever want that to change.
Day 165
Just as the worst of the fallout cleared up, a large group of tribals attacked us from the east. They actually managed to get close, and for a while we were fighting hand-to-hand before they eventually broke and ran. We're all a bit dinged up, but there are no permanant injuries. Silver lining, the bodies are right next to the graveyard.
Day 169
An exotic goods trader arrived today. They didn't have any construction materials either, but we were able to sell off the remainder of our looted tribalwear as well as a bunch of armchairs made of... well, let's just say I don't really want to sit in them myself. The trader was pleased to hear they were made of leather, and we didn't elaborate on what kind. They also bought our scyther blades and thrumbo horns. We ended up with about 5000 more silver, and we bought all their gold and plasteel. I don't intend to use the plasteel for buildings - it's too valuable, even in our circumstances - but it will definitely be good to have in the future.
We also bought something interesting. An artifact from some glitterworld civilization. A psychic insanity lance. I don't much like the look of this thing, but it could easily turn the tide if a group of raiders ever shows up packing too much heat for us to handle.
Speaking of raids, a group of pirates arrived in drop pods nearby (not on top of us, for a change) and started preparing an attack. One of them has a really, REALLY big rocket launcher. They attacked sooner than I thought they would, so it looks like we're going to get to see how that lance works. Cyber grabbed it and pressed the activation switch, aiming it in the direction of the incoming raid.
A few seconds later, we heard a massive boom sweep across the ice. The lance had driven one of the swordsmen berserk, and the raider with the rocket launcher decided to turn it on his friend in close quarters. Not a smart move. We counted at least five dead bodies on the ice, who knows how many more injured in the subsequent retreat. i don't like to think about what that weapon might have done to us.
Day 173
A combat supplier is not a bulk goods trader. We need a bulk goods trader. We did sell off the melee weapons the pirate merchant wouldn't take. Clubs, mostly, but we had so many we actually made a fair bit of silver. We need a bulk goods trader.
Day 176
Hey, those cargo pods had megasloth wool. I should really make a tailoring bench.
Day 178
Norman and I exchanged our vows today. I haven't felt this happy in a long time. I never thought I'd find peace in this horrible frozen wasteland but Norman gives me hope every day and I wouldn't be able to do this without him. For the first time in what feels like a hundred years I have real hope for the future.
Day 180
That was intense. A mechanoid raid arrived and we manned the defensive walls. We took out the scythers, but my poor Norman got his foot shot off. I wanted to tend to him myself but I am the best shot in the colony and somebody needed to kite the centipedes, so I grabbed a sniper rifle and got their attention.
While I was leading them around, a tribal raid arrived. I thought that was it for us, but then I had an idea. I switched directions and tried to pull the centipedes into the path of the tribals. I almost got caught in the horde, but thankfully they saw the mechanoids and, recognizing the greater threat, diverted to attack them. And they actually won, though it was more through force of numbers. Cyber and Hakuja, still bleeding from fighting the scythers, managed to kill enough of the remaining tribals to force a rout.
We're lucky to be alive, but I feel terrible for Norman. He is up and moving around, and we patched him up as best we could, but I can tell how difficult and painful it is for him. If ony we hadn't sold all those wooden feet.... I wonder if there isn't anything I can do.
Day 181
More mechanoids arrived in drop pods nearby. I don't know if we can survive another assault. thankfully it's only centipedes, and they're slow. I'm going to get my rifle and do my best to keep them away from the colony.
Day 183
two days. Two friggin' days of leading those centipedes out on the ice. Wobber tried to help, but he had to use a worse rifle and he's not as good a shot as I am. We both ended up having to lead them far away from the base and then run inside just so we could rest for a couple hours and eat. We eventually killed them, but... I mean, Jesus. We realy need a better way to deal with these things.
And we STILL haven't fought that poison ship yet. I'm beginning to truly dread what lies within.
Day 189
Some cargo pods landed today carrying uranium. I wonder where all these supplies are coming from? Regardless, this will be quite useful when we are finally able to cobble together a ship.
Day 191
Hakuja and Cyber are getting married today! I hope they're happy together for a very long time. Unfortunately, a psychic ship crashed nearby, which put a bit of a damper on the celebration. I'm working on some more turrets to help us like last time. If we could get our hands on some mortar shells I have a few ideas for rigging up some traps, but we'll have to save that idea for later.
Day 195
Finally! A bulk goods trader! We are going to build SO MANY THINGS. We bought about a thousand each of steel, marble blocks, granite blocks and wood. We also bought a handful of components, and Wobber talked me into buying all their beer. Hey, why not? We actuallly have a shot at making this work now! It cost us well over eight thousand steel, but it was worth every ounce. There are so many things we need to build - but first we need to kill that damn psychic ship. Everything is in place. We attack at first light.
Quote from: CrazyEyes on January 27, 2017, 02:38:32 AM
I haven't had a lot of chances to play now that the semester has started again, but I made some progress tonight. Here's what happened:
Day 141
Norman brought me some chocolate to try and cheer me up. He said it landed in some cargo pods nearby. I nearly decapitated him when I went to reach for it with my left hand and accidentally extended the telescoping blade.
I think I broke down crying for a while. Norman sat quietly for a while, but eventually had to go back to his work. He left the chocolate.
I can still do this.
Day 142
I awoke sometime in the night to the sound of gunfire. I had to fumble around in the dark for my rifle, and when I finally found it I realized there was no way I'd be able to weild it properly now. I choked back a sob and ran outside to see what was happening, but it was already over. Norman said a large group of tribals had showed up and tried to swarm the defenses, but had given up after we killed enough of them. I angrily demanded to know why nobody had gotten me and immediately wished I hadn't. Norman glanced at my hand and then tried very hard to look away. Dejected, I dropped my rifle on the ground and walked back to my room. I passed Hakuja on the way and I swear I heard her humming to herself. At least all the violence and loss puts someone in a good mood. I felt like using her to see just how sharp my new blade was.
Before I'd even slept four hours Norman exploded into my room. I was tired and angry, and I was going to scream at him but before I could he said that a prosthesis trader had just radioed in.
I don't know how long I just sat there, dumbfounded. I couldn't believe my luck. Norman ran over and shook me out of bed and I almost knocked Cyber down running to the comms console.
The trader didn't have any proper hand replacements, but they did have a bionic power claw. It costs half our silver, and I'll still look a bit disfigured, but at least this thing was designed for human operation and will work almost as well as my hand did. Cyber helped me detatch the scyther blade and grafted the claw to the end of my arm. I still feel like crying, but this time it's from relief. I'm not a cripple anymore.
((Author's note: Well, that was a pretty incredible stroke of luck. I was expecting the scyther blade to be this whole thing, and kind of looking forward to writing it to be honest. Then four days later a prosthesis trader shows up and Engie's back to 98% efficency with her left hand. I guess I can't complain, but it's a bit of an anticlimax. It really did cost about half my silver, though, so that's going to hurt somewhat if a bulk goods trader ever does come by. Ultimately I decided it was worth it to keep Engie a decent worker and let her help in a fight without risking her in melee. I still have all sorts of looted tribal weapons to sell in case a combat supplier shows up, so I'm not too worried.
Also, she will be significantly less dangerous in a berserk rage holding a gun than she would be with a sword for a hand.))
Day 145
Another prosthesis trader? That's odd. They don't have anything better than the power claw, and they weren't interested in buying the scyther blades we recovered. Oh well. If we ever really needed to, those could turn a person into a really terrifying fighter up close... but I don't think I could put anyone through that. Those few days were the worst of my life.
Day 149
Another tribal raid today. Nobody was injured in the attack. Not by the attackers, at least. I sort of winged Hakuja with my assault rifle on accident. I guess I'm not fully used to the new hand yet.
After the attack, though, Norman collapsed. We rushed him back to his room and Hakuja, still bleeding, said it looked like he had symptoms of the plague. God only knows how he managed to catch a disease out here on the ice. Well, we brought him to my room (the silver my bed is made of helps keep it clean, so he'll recover faster) and broke out the medicine so Hakuja could treat him.
I hope he pulls through. I know he killed Red, but that wasn't really his fault. And he's sweet. He makes me think of Otto, wherever he is. I hope he comes back to me.
A psychic ship crashed here in the night. I was going to save this ploy for the coldest night of winter, but we can't afford to keep waiting now. Let's crack it open and see if mechanoids freeze.
Day 152
Norman is going to be alright. Hakuja says he's no longer in danger and will get better on his own from now on. I'm really glad. We need his help with that mechanoid ship. And... things wouldn't be the same without him.
Day 153
Norman kissed me today. We were getting our weapons together so we'd be ready to hit the mechanoid ship, and he pulled me aside. He told me how much I meant to him, and that we shouldn't be afraid of being together just because things are hard. And he kissed me. And I kissed him back. I was so caught up in the moment I couldn't help it. And I do like Norman... a lot. He's smart and kind and he was there for me when I was at my lowest. But...
I still miss Otto. I don't know what happened to him after he went off in search of another colony, and I can't give up hope that he'll come back. But it's already been so long. Surely we would have heard something by now, anything to let us know that he was still....
I need to go. Work to do.
Day 154
While we were stacking up to assault the mechanoid ship some cargo pods full of rice crashed nearby. Maybe we can cook up a victory meal if we live through this.
Mechanoids do not freeze. They must have some kind of internal heating system to keep their circuits at a stable operating temperature. That was a pretty big dissapointment, but thankfully we prepared for the worst. We managed to get a couple of improvised turrets built and set them up in front of the defensive line and hauled over one of our batteries to power them. It was expensive, but it gave the mechanoids something else to shoot at. Cyber also decided to throw EMP grenades since he's not that great of a shot with a rifle. Between the turrets and the grenades we actually managed to take out the mechanoids without sustaining any injuries! We did lose a turret, but that just means it did its job.
I'm just so glad I can't feel that thing in my head anymore.
Day 156
Hakuja and Cyber are getting married! They told us this morning. I'm glad people are beginning to find happiness out here despite the horrible conditions. I'll help Hakuja organize the party, and hopefully a trader comes along soon so we can start to build proper accomodations for everyone.
Day 157
A pair of thrumbos collapsed near our outpost today after trying to cross the ice. I'm saddened to see any of these creatures die but at least it means we'll eat well for a while.
Also, we really nee to start asking more questions about people who say they're fleeing from pirates. It seems like most of the time that means we're about to have a raid drop on our heads. This time it was someone by the name of Bluejay who asked for our help. It was the middle of the night, so we all got up and started shooting from our rooms, but there was no time for Bluejay to get into cover - the pirates killed him. then they decided to grab what they could and flee, nearly making off with all our good medicine before Norman managed to gun down two more of them and send them into a full-blown retreat. good riddance.
We were about to go back to bed when the comms console lit up, this time with a pirate merchant! odd timing, but I'm not complaining. They probably won't have much in the way of building supplies but they should be willing to take all our useless weapons off our hands.
Day 158
We sold all our worthless tribal weapons and looted clothes, making back around 2000 silver (hey, that just paid for my new hand) and buying 80 smokeleaf jointes to help keep everyone in a good mood. Just as we closed the channel, a group of tribals showed up and began preparing to attack. Maybe the merchant will stick around long enough to buy their weapons too.
They didn't. Oh well. Better start digging some new graves. Corpses are unsightly, you know.
Day 160
A wanderer named Wobber asked if he could join our colony today. I agreed, and he's on his way now. He's apparently a very good negotiator, which should help when the next trader comes by, and another pair of hands to help with the hauling is always welcome.
A few hours later, a group of sappers showed up. The cold wasn't enough to deter them, but our bullets were. Naturally one of our conduits took this opportunity to explode. Nothing important was destroyed, but the sudden loss of power killed our crop of smokeleaf right before harvest.
Day 162
Another plume of toxic ash has envelloped the region. Nothing to do but stay under cover and wait for it to pass.
Day 164
Otto, if you're out there, I'm sorry. I can't wait any more. It's been more than a year since you left me without saying goodbye, and I haven't heard a single thing from you since then. One way or another, I feel like you're gone for good.
Norman proposed to me today. I said yes. We've been through so much together - I love him. He loves me. And he's here for me. And I don't ever want that to change.
Day 165
Just as the worst of the fallout cleared up, a large group of tribals attacked us from the east. They actually managed to get close, and for a while we were fighting hand-to-hand before they eventually broke and ran. We're all a bit dinged up, but there are no permanant injuries. Silver lining, the bodies are right next to the graveyard.
Day 169
An exotic goods trader arrived today. They didn't have any construction materials either, but we were able to sell off the remainder of our looted tribalwear as well as a bunch of armchairs made of... well, let's just say I don't really want to sit in them myself. The trader was pleased to hear they were made of leather, and we didn't elaborate on what kind. They also bought our scyther blades and thrumbo horns. We ended up with about 5000 more silver, and we bought all their gold and plasteel. I don't intend to use the plasteel for buildings - it's too valuable, even in our circumstances - but it will definitely be good to have in the future.
We also bought something interesting. An artifact from some glitterworld civilization. A psychic insanity lance. I don't much like the look of this thing, but it could easily turn the tide if a group of raiders ever shows up packing too much heat for us to handle.
Speaking of raids, a group of pirates arrived in drop pods nearby (not on top of us, for a change) and started preparing an attack. One of them has a really, REALLY big rocket launcher. They attacked sooner than I thought they would, so it looks like we're going to get to see how that lance works. Cyber grabbed it and pressed the activation switch, aiming it in the direction of the incoming raid.
A few seconds later, we heard a massive boom sweep across the ice. The lance had driven one of the swordsmen berserk, and the raider with the rocket launcher decided to turn it on his friend in close quarters. Not a smart move. We counted at least five dead bodies on the ice, who knows how many more injured in the subsequent retreat. i don't like to think about what that weapon might have done to us.
Day 173
A combat supplier is not a bulk goods trader. We need a bulk goods trader. We did sell off the melee weapons the pirate merchant wouldn't take. Clubs, mostly, but we had so many we actually made a fair bit of silver. We need a bulk goods trader.
Day 176
Hey, those cargo pods had megasloth wool. I should really make a tailoring bench.
Day 178
Norman and I exchanged our vows today. I haven't felt this happy in a long time. I never thought I'd find peace in this horrible frozen wasteland but Norman gives me hope every day and I wouldn't be able to do this without him. For the first time in what feels like a hundred years I have real hope for the future.
Day 180
That was intense. A mechanoid raid arrived and we manned the defensive walls. We took out the scythers, but my poor Norman got his foot shot off. I wanted to tend to him myself but I am the best shot in the colony and somebody needed to kite the centipedes, so I grabbed a sniper rifle and got their attention.
While I was leading them around, a tribal raid arrived. I thought that was it for us, but then I had an idea. I switched directions and tried to pull the centipedes into the path of the tribals. I almost got caught in the horde, but thankfully they saw the mechanoids and, recognizing the greater threat, diverted to attack them. And they actually won, though it was more through force of numbers. Cyber and Hakuja, still bleeding from fighting the scythers, managed to kill enough of the remaining tribals to force a rout.
We're lucky to be alive, but I feel terrible for Norman. He is up and moving around, and we patched him up as best we could, but I can tell how difficult and painful it is for him. If ony we hadn't sold all those wooden feet.... I wonder if there isn't anything I can do.
Day 181
More mechanoids arrived in drop pods nearby. I don't know if we can survive another assault. thankfully it's only centipedes, and they're slow. I'm going to get my rifle and do my best to keep them away from the colony.
Day 183
two days. Two friggin' days of leading those centipedes out on the ice. Wobber tried to help, but he had to use a worse rifle and he's not as good a shot as I am. We both ended up having to lead them far away from the base and then run inside just so we could rest for a couple hours and eat. We eventually killed them, but... I mean, Jesus. We realy need a better way to deal with these things.
And we STILL haven't fought that poison ship yet. I'm beginning to truly dread what lies within.
Day 189
Some cargo pods landed today carrying uranium. I wonder where all these supplies are coming from? Regardless, this will be quite useful when we are finally able to cobble together a ship.
Day 191
Hakuja and Cyber are getting married today! I hope they're happy together for a very long time. Unfortunately, a psychic ship crashed nearby, which put a bit of a damper on the celebration. I'm working on some more turrets to help us like last time. If we could get our hands on some mortar shells I have a few ideas for rigging up some traps, but we'll have to save that idea for later.
Day 195
Finally! A bulk goods trader! We are going to build SO MANY THINGS. We bought about a thousand each of steel, marble blocks, granite blocks and wood. We also bought a handful of components, and Wobber talked me into buying all their beer. Hey, why not? We actuallly have a shot at making this work now! It cost us well over eight thousand steel, but it was worth every ounce. There are so many things we need to build - but first we need to kill that damn psychic ship. Everything is in place. We attack at first light.
Instantly thought of fanfic cause of that comment
Quote from: CrazyEyes on January 27, 2017, 02:38:32 AM
I haven't had a lot of chances to play now that the semester has started again, but I made some progress tonight. Here's what happened:
Day 141
Norman brought me some chocolate to try and cheer me up. He said it landed in some cargo pods nearby. I nearly decapitated him when I went to reach for it with my left hand and accidentally extended the telescoping blade.
I think I broke down crying for a while. Norman sat quietly for a while, but eventually had to go back to his work. He left the chocolate.
I can still do this.
Day 142
I awoke sometime in the night to the sound of gunfire. I had to fumble around in the dark for my rifle, and when I finally found it I realized there was no way I'd be able to weild it properly now. I choked back a sob and ran outside to see what was happening, but it was already over. Norman said a large group of tribals had showed up and tried to swarm the defenses, but had given up after we killed enough of them. I angrily demanded to know why nobody had gotten me and immediately wished I hadn't. Norman glanced at my hand and then tried very hard to look away. Dejected, I dropped my rifle on the ground and walked back to my room. I passed Hakuja on the way and I swear I heard her humming to herself. At least all the violence and loss puts someone in a good mood. I felt like using her to see just how sharp my new blade was.
Before I'd even slept four hours Norman exploded into my room. I was tired and angry, and I was going to scream at him but before I could he said that a prosthesis trader had just radioed in.
I don't know how long I just sat there, dumbfounded. I couldn't believe my luck. Norman ran over and shook me out of bed and I almost knocked Cyber down running to the comms console.
The trader didn't have any proper hand replacements, but they did have a bionic power claw. It costs half our silver, and I'll still look a bit disfigured, but at least this thing was designed for human operation and will work almost as well as my hand did. Cyber helped me detatch the scyther blade and grafted the claw to the end of my arm. I still feel like crying, but this time it's from relief. I'm not a cripple anymore.
((Author's note: Well, that was a pretty incredible stroke of luck. I was expecting the scyther blade to be this whole thing, and kind of looking forward to writing it to be honest. Then four days later a prosthesis trader shows up and Engie's back to 98% efficency with her left hand. I guess I can't complain, but it's a bit of an anticlimax. It really did cost about half my silver, though, so that's going to hurt somewhat if a bulk goods trader ever does come by. Ultimately I decided it was worth it to keep Engie a decent worker and let her help in a fight without risking her in melee. I still have all sorts of looted tribal weapons to sell in case a combat supplier shows up, so I'm not too worried.
Also, she will be significantly less dangerous in a berserk rage holding a gun than she would be with a sword for a hand.))
Day 145
Another prosthesis trader? That's odd. They don't have anything better than the power claw, and they weren't interested in buying the scyther blades we recovered. Oh well. If we ever really needed to, those could turn a person into a really terrifying fighter up close... but I don't think I could put anyone through that. Those few days were the worst of my life.
Day 149
Another tribal raid today. Nobody was injured in the attack. Not by the attackers, at least. I sort of winged Hakuja with my assault rifle on accident. I guess I'm not fully used to the new hand yet.
After the attack, though, Norman collapsed. We rushed him back to his room and Hakuja, still bleeding, said it looked like he had symptoms of the plague. God only knows how he managed to catch a disease out here on the ice. Well, we brought him to my room (the silver my bed is made of helps keep it clean, so he'll recover faster) and broke out the medicine so Hakuja could treat him.
I hope he pulls through. I know he killed Red, but that wasn't really his fault. And he's sweet. He makes me think of Otto, wherever he is. I hope he comes back to me.
A psychic ship crashed here in the night. I was going to save this ploy for the coldest night of winter, but we can't afford to keep waiting now. Let's crack it open and see if mechanoids freeze.
Day 152
Norman is going to be alright. Hakuja says he's no longer in danger and will get better on his own from now on. I'm really glad. We need his help with that mechanoid ship. And... things wouldn't be the same without him.
Day 153
Norman kissed me today. We were getting our weapons together so we'd be ready to hit the mechanoid ship, and he pulled me aside. He told me how much I meant to him, and that we shouldn't be afraid of being together just because things are hard. And he kissed me. And I kissed him back. I was so caught up in the moment I couldn't help it. And I do like Norman... a lot. He's smart and kind and he was there for me when I was at my lowest. But...
I still miss Otto. I don't know what happened to him after he went off in search of another colony, and I can't give up hope that he'll come back. But it's already been so long. Surely we would have heard something by now, anything to let us know that he was still....
I need to go. Work to do.
Day 154
While we were stacking up to assault the mechanoid ship some cargo pods full of rice crashed nearby. Maybe we can cook up a victory meal if we live through this.
Mechanoids do not freeze. They must have some kind of internal heating system to keep their circuits at a stable operating temperature. That was a pretty big dissapointment, but thankfully we prepared for the worst. We managed to get a couple of improvised turrets built and set them up in front of the defensive line and hauled over one of our batteries to power them. It was expensive, but it gave the mechanoids something else to shoot at. Cyber also decided to throw EMP grenades since he's not that great of a shot with a rifle. Between the turrets and the grenades we actually managed to take out the mechanoids without sustaining any injuries! We did lose a turret, but that just means it did its job.
I'm just so glad I can't feel that thing in my head anymore.
Day 156
Hakuja and Cyber are getting married! They told us this morning. I'm glad people are beginning to find happiness out here despite the horrible conditions. I'll help Hakuja organize the party, and hopefully a trader comes along soon so we can start to build proper accomodations for everyone.
Day 157
A pair of thrumbos collapsed near our outpost today after trying to cross the ice. I'm saddened to see any of these creatures die but at least it means we'll eat well for a while.
Also, we really nee to start asking more questions about people who say they're fleeing from pirates. It seems like most of the time that means we're about to have a raid drop on our heads. This time it was someone by the name of Bluejay who asked for our help. It was the middle of the night, so we all got up and started shooting from our rooms, but there was no time for Bluejay to get into cover - the pirates killed him. then they decided to grab what they could and flee, nearly making off with all our good medicine before Norman managed to gun down two more of them and send them into a full-blown retreat. good riddance.
We were about to go back to bed when the comms console lit up, this time with a pirate merchant! odd timing, but I'm not complaining. They probably won't have much in the way of building supplies but they should be willing to take all our useless weapons off our hands.
Day 158
We sold all our worthless tribal weapons and looted clothes, making back around 2000 silver (hey, that just paid for my new hand) and buying 80 smokeleaf jointes to help keep everyone in a good mood. Just as we closed the channel, a group of tribals showed up and began preparing to attack. Maybe the merchant will stick around long enough to buy their weapons too.
They didn't. Oh well. Better start digging some new graves. Corpses are unsightly, you know.
Day 160
A wanderer named Wobber asked if he could join our colony today. I agreed, and he's on his way now. He's apparently a very good negotiator, which should help when the next trader comes by, and another pair of hands to help with the hauling is always welcome.
A few hours later, a group of sappers showed up. The cold wasn't enough to deter them, but our bullets were. Naturally one of our conduits took this opportunity to explode. Nothing important was destroyed, but the sudden loss of power killed our crop of smokeleaf right before harvest.
Day 162
Another plume of toxic ash has envelloped the region. Nothing to do but stay under cover and wait for it to pass.
Day 164
Otto, if you're out there, I'm sorry. I can't wait any more. It's been more than a year since you left me without saying goodbye, and I haven't heard a single thing from you since then. One way or another, I feel like you're gone for good.
Norman proposed to me today. I said yes. We've been through so much together - I love him. He loves me. And he's here for me. And I don't ever want that to change.
Day 165
Just as the worst of the fallout cleared up, a large group of tribals attacked us from the east. They actually managed to get close, and for a while we were fighting hand-to-hand before they eventually broke and ran. We're all a bit dinged up, but there are no permanant injuries. Silver lining, the bodies are right next to the graveyard.
Day 169
An exotic goods trader arrived today. They didn't have any construction materials either, but we were able to sell off the remainder of our looted tribalwear as well as a bunch of armchairs made of... well, let's just say I don't really want to sit in them myself. The trader was pleased to hear they were made of leather, and we didn't elaborate on what kind. They also bought our scyther blades and thrumbo horns. We ended up with about 5000 more silver, and we bought all their gold and plasteel. I don't intend to use the plasteel for buildings - it's too valuable, even in our circumstances - but it will definitely be good to have in the future.
We also bought something interesting. An artifact from some glitterworld civilization. A psychic insanity lance. I don't much like the look of this thing, but it could easily turn the tide if a group of raiders ever shows up packing too much heat for us to handle.
Speaking of raids, a group of pirates arrived in drop pods nearby (not on top of us, for a change) and started preparing an attack. One of them has a really, REALLY big rocket launcher. They attacked sooner than I thought they would, so it looks like we're going to get to see how that lance works. Cyber grabbed it and pressed the activation switch, aiming it in the direction of the incoming raid.
A few seconds later, we heard a massive boom sweep across the ice. The lance had driven one of the swordsmen berserk, and the raider with the rocket launcher decided to turn it on his friend in close quarters. Not a smart move. We counted at least five dead bodies on the ice, who knows how many more injured in the subsequent retreat. i don't like to think about what that weapon might have done to us.
Day 173
A combat supplier is not a bulk goods trader. We need a bulk goods trader. We did sell off the melee weapons the pirate merchant wouldn't take. Clubs, mostly, but we had so many we actually made a fair bit of silver. We need a bulk goods trader.
Day 176
Hey, those cargo pods had megasloth wool. I should really make a tailoring bench.
Day 178
Norman and I exchanged our vows today. I haven't felt this happy in a long time. I never thought I'd find peace in this horrible frozen wasteland but Norman gives me hope every day and I wouldn't be able to do this without him. For the first time in what feels like a hundred years I have real hope for the future.
Day 180
That was intense. A mechanoid raid arrived and we manned the defensive walls. We took out the scythers, but my poor Norman got his foot shot off. I wanted to tend to him myself but I am the best shot in the colony and somebody needed to kite the centipedes, so I grabbed a sniper rifle and got their attention.
While I was leading them around, a tribal raid arrived. I thought that was it for us, but then I had an idea. I switched directions and tried to pull the centipedes into the path of the tribals. I almost got caught in the horde, but thankfully they saw the mechanoids and, recognizing the greater threat, diverted to attack them. And they actually won, though it was more through force of numbers. Cyber and Hakuja, still bleeding from fighting the scythers, managed to kill enough of the remaining tribals to force a rout.
We're lucky to be alive, but I feel terrible for Norman. He is up and moving around, and we patched him up as best we could, but I can tell how difficult and painful it is for him. If ony we hadn't sold all those wooden feet.... I wonder if there isn't anything I can do.
Day 181
More mechanoids arrived in drop pods nearby. I don't know if we can survive another assault. thankfully it's only centipedes, and they're slow. I'm going to get my rifle and do my best to keep them away from the colony.
Day 183
two days. Two friggin' days of leading those centipedes out on the ice. Wobber tried to help, but he had to use a worse rifle and he's not as good a shot as I am. We both ended up having to lead them far away from the base and then run inside just so we could rest for a couple hours and eat. We eventually killed them, but... I mean, Jesus. We realy need a better way to deal with these things.
And we STILL haven't fought that poison ship yet. I'm beginning to truly dread what lies within.
Day 189
Some cargo pods landed today carrying uranium. I wonder where all these supplies are coming from? Regardless, this will be quite useful when we are finally able to cobble together a ship.
Day 191
Hakuja and Cyber are getting married today! I hope they're happy together for a very long time. Unfortunately, a psychic ship crashed nearby, which put a bit of a damper on the celebration. I'm working on some more turrets to help us like last time. If we could get our hands on some mortar shells I have a few ideas for rigging up some traps, but we'll have to save that idea for later.
Day 195
Finally! A bulk goods trader! We are going to build SO MANY THINGS. We bought about a thousand each of steel, marble blocks, granite blocks and wood. We also bought a handful of components, and Wobber talked me into buying all their beer. Hey, why not? We actuallly have a shot at making this work now! It cost us well over eight thousand steel, but it was worth every ounce. There are so many things we need to build - but first we need to kill that damn psychic ship. Everything is in place. We attack at first light.
That.. is... amazing
Glad you guys are enjoying it! You probably shouldn't quote the entire post to respond, though - it makes the page unnecesarily long. :P
It's been a pretty eventful 50 days for Engie but thanks to that bulk goods trader I can finally start building actual rooms for the kitchen, workshop, etc. Having to basically work and live inside the "everything" stockpile means they're constantly complaining about the ugly environment.
I should be able to get another bunch of entries done by tonight or maybe tomorrow. I really do have to kill that ship part first thing though, so we'll see how that goes.
How cold was it when you tried the mechanoid hypothermia? I don't actually see anything in the code that would prevent it at first glance.
And for the future, Exotic Goods traders do sell building materials, in the form of statues.
I've given this about 5 attempts now, with mixed results.
Attempt #1: Actually had a pretty good setup - got a good parka from the first raider, THREE steel cargo pod drops, and plenty of orbital traders coming in and out. But I messed up the power requirements bad - I'd never done hydroponics before - and spent days trying to fix it. By the time I had, I was out of food, and died to a mechanoid raid because I could never afford to have other colonists to help. Was just under a year.
Attempt #2: Failed 3 construction attempts on initial building, got frostbite, got infected, died. Happens.
Attempt #3: The third raiding party that came in was 3 guys, and one had frag grenades. I stupidly used my building as cover from the other two, and he blew up part of the building. By the time I fought them off and repaired the building, it was too late (didn't get lucky on apparel drops that time).
Attempt #4: Took an unlucky hit to the eye on the second raid. Decided to just start over.
Attempt #5: The one I just finished. Now that was frustrating. I had a good strong early setup, got great apparel early on. Had a comms console on the third day as usual. I lasted 48 days. Not. One. Trader. Not a single freaking one. And trust me, I checked about two dozen times that it was turned on. I had to turn it off for part of winter because there was no sun for the solar panel. I got some decent food drops, so didn't have to resort to cannabilism, but I couldn't build any hydroponics, so it was still just me by myself, praying for a trader.
Then the mechanoid came.
I was all by myself on the far corner of the map picking up some more random crap to sell from the 800th person who escape pod'd in, when a single mechanoid drop-pod'd into the middle of my base. By the time I ran back, he had destroyed everything. The comm console. The trade beacon. The battery and the solar panel. Everything. I ended up killing him, but didn't have nearly enough steel to rebuild power and the comm console, nor power and a smelter despite having hauled a ton of slag.
On to my 6th attempt! That last one was frustrating - the comm console is so damn random, it varies wildly every game - but such is life.
Quote from: Zhentar on January 27, 2017, 03:47:42 PM
How cold was it when you tried the mechanoid hypothermia? I don't actually see anything in the code that would prevent it at first glance.
And for the future, Exotic Goods traders do sell building materials, in the form of statues.
It was around -135C when I attacked the ship. I didn't let them sit there because I didn't want to have to attack them withough the benefit of sandbags and turrets, but they weren't showing any signs of hypothermia by the time the fight was over. I left them downed on the ice for a while and they didn't freeze then either. It's too bad, I was hoping that would be a benefit to the extreme cold but I guess not. IED traps should still work against ship parts though. Just gotta get my hands on some mortars.
As for the statues, yesh, I thought of that, but it would have been a waste of silver for the meager resources I'd get back. I didn't want to drop hundreds or even thousands of silver to get ~75 building materials so I figured I'd just wait for a bulk goods trader to come along and give me a better deal.
Quote from: Quizart on January 27, 2017, 08:33:51 PM
I've given this about 5 attempts now, with mixed results.
Attempt #1: Actually had a pretty good setup - got a good parka from the first raider, THREE steel cargo pod drops, and plenty of orbital traders coming in and out. But I messed up the power requirements bad - I'd never done hydroponics before - and spent days trying to fix it. By the time I had, I was out of food, and died to a mechanoid raid because I could never afford to have other colonists to help. Was just under a year.
Attempt #2: Failed 3 construction attempts on initial building, got frostbite, got infected, died. Happens.
Attempt #3: The third raiding party that came in was 3 guys, and one had frag grenades. I stupidly used my building as cover from the other two, and he blew up part of the building. By the time I fought them off and repaired the building, it was too late (didn't get lucky on apparel drops that time).
Attempt #4: Took an unlucky hit to the eye on the second raid. Decided to just start over.
Attempt #5: The one I just finished. Now that was frustrating. I had a good strong early setup, got great apparel early on. Had a comms console on the third day as usual. I lasted 48 days. Not. One. Trader. Not a single freaking one. And trust me, I checked about two dozen times that it was turned on. I had to turn it off for part of winter because there was no sun for the solar panel. I got some decent food drops, so didn't have to resort to cannabilism, but I couldn't build any hydroponics, so it was still just me by myself, praying for a trader.
Then the mechanoid came.
I was all by myself on the far corner of the map picking up some more random crap to sell from the 800th person who escape pod'd in, when a single mechanoid drop-pod'd into the middle of my base. By the time I ran back, he had destroyed everything. The comm console. The trade beacon. The battery and the solar panel. Everything. I ended up killing him, but didn't have nearly enough steel to rebuild power and the comm console, nor power and a smelter despite having hauled a ton of slag.
On to my 6th attempt! That last one was frustrating - the comm console is so damn random, it varies wildly every game - but such is life.
You should set up wind turbines for power instead of solar panels. they're a bit more random but I don't think I've ever seen my solar panels work at even half capacity, even in summer. In winter you may as well not have them.
Also, a more reliable way to get steel is to research and set up an electric smelter rather than a comms console. You only have enough steel for one or the other initially. With the comms console you might get lucky and an early bulk goods trader will come by, but if not you're kinda screwed. The smelter gaurentees a slow but steady income of steel from all the cargo and escape pods that land nearby.
Other than that, just don't give up! It took me probably over a dozen false starts before I got a base where I wasn't dying of cold or reduced to eating raw corpses. All you need is a foothold and you can build your way up from there.
Quote from: CrazyEyes on January 27, 2017, 10:11:21 PM
You should set up wind turbines for power instead of solar panels. they're a bit more random but I don't think I've ever seen my solar panels work at even half capacity, even in summer. In winter you may as well not have them.
Also, a more reliable way to get steel is to research and set up an electric smelter rather than a comms console. You only have enough steel for one or the other initially. With the comms console you might get lucky and an early bulk goods trader will come by, but if not you're kinda screwed. The smelter gaurentees a slow but steady income of steel from all the cargo and escape pods that land nearby.
Other than that, just don't give up! It took me probably over a dozen false starts before I got a base where I wasn't dying of cold or reduced to eating raw corpses. All you need is a foothold and you can build your way up from there.
That's my plan from now on. I think it's more fun than relying on pure luck with the trader anyway. I'm also going to take a second person in much earlier too.
I've really enjoyed your telling of the tale - I'm going to do one as well, assuming I don't die in the first few days.
Day 0
Holy fuck this place is cold. I think I not only picked the worst possible planet to land on - but the worst possible spot. I don't even have cold weather gear! What was I thinking?!?
Well, this is what I wanted. A real challenge. And I'm going to make it. I'll do whatever it takes to survive. Whatever it takes.
As I was coming down I saw a lot of the wood I brought with me landed in a small area. I knew what I had to do - rush there, and put up a shelter around it, and start burning some for heat. I had to get warm, as fast as possible. I'd die in minutes if I didn't.
Determination paid off. Perfect walls and a door, locked in nice and tight. It took a while, but I eventually got warm enough to feel my appendages again.
Now back out into the cold to gather stuff. What was I thinking? That every day out here might be my last - but I will have lived.
I managed to grab enough stuff to set up a power generator, and got what little sleep I could while waiting for hypothermia to thaw out. This campfire is warm, but I can't burn all my supplies. A nice wind turbine - surely the wind blows out here enough? A battery to store the power for when the wind dies down. Tomorrow: a heater.
Day 1
I quickly set up a heater, and was a little greedy - i let the campfire burn for another few minutes before I salvaged what wood I could from it. It was just so nice to be warm. Alas, I'll have to settle for "not deadly temperature" until I can get a real setup here.
I knew that ships crashing and drop pods falling onto the planet was common - carrying people or resources - and pieces of those drop pods could be melted into steel. But I didn't know how. I needed a plan. I needed a place to figure out how to use these drop pod pieces, a research bench. More importantly, I needed something to do when I was just sitting around, freezing my ass off, waiting to get "not so fucking cold" to wander back out again. So, I braved the cold and set up a nice research bench. Now I can figure out how to turn all these pieces into some useful steel.
And so the day went - when I was "warm", I went and gathered the supplies that I came down with near my shelter, and researched in-between trips. It's really quiet out here.
Day 2
I hauled some food inside so I didn't have to venture out for days at a time if needed. Managed to gather everything else up, and put a roof over it so it wouldn't rot.
The wind turbine is spinning nicely, and the battery is nearly full. I just hope nothing goes wrong with it...
I brought all this silver thinking trade would be important, but who is coming out in this cold to trade? So that silver has to go to some other use. And now I have a silver bed. Strange, but quality sleep means I'll get back to being productive faster.
It had been nice getting plenty of sleep while waiting to warm up, but that time was over. I had research to do. I had to fight to survive. And I had to win.
I was going to push myself to the very limits. I wasn't going to eat until I absolutely had to. I wasn't going to sleep until I was exhausted. Every second was precious, because I knew enemies were coming...
Day 3
Oddly quiet out here. Forced myself to wait until malnutrition nearly set in before eating, stayed awake until I nearly passed out. Just working hard on figuring out this smelting thing.
Day 4
Some girl named Toni wandered up, said she was joining me, and demanded we name our "faction" and our "community". How does "not dying" sound for both? I decided to take it at least a little seriously, and named our "faction" The Dreamers, and this tiny shack "A New Beginning". It seemed appropriate at least.
Toni was at least smart enough to have some decent cold weather gear. It was terribly crafted, but it was nearly enough to stay warm even in this weather. Except no pants? This girl was weird. Apparently she an ex-criminal, a bit of a masochist even, but you'd have to be to come out in this place. I'm not gay, but even I have to admit, she was pretty. That's good, because we were going to be getting really cozy in this tiny place.
I'm not going to lie, I demanded to know her skillset before I let her into my shelter. I'm sorry, but I'm going to survive out here, even if it means chopping people up for food when my supplies run low. But she didn't bat an eye - she obviously knew how it was out here.
"I'm an excellent doctor, and I can craft stuff well - I didn't make this garbage I'm wearing obviously - and I'm similarly willing to do whatever it takes to survive out here. Want me to build? I'll do it. Want me to haul crap from five miles away? I'll do it. Put a broom in my hand to clean like a maid? I'll do that too. I'm decent with a gun, but I'll kick someone's ass if you let me get close to them. You could possibly survive without me, sure. But... do you really want to turn down a hard working doctor?"
I have to admit, I was impressed. I was told most people out here were idiots, showing up with no clothes and unwilling to do a lot of the things required to survive. She wasn't any of that.
She did admit she had a drug problem in the past, but swore she was off that stuff. I don't think she was lying, but I knew if I found any drugs, I'd have to hide them.
Nonetheless, welcome Toni. Make yourself comfortable in a silver bed. I hope you aren't claustrophobic - three inches of space between our beds doesn't count as a double bed, right?
She chatted with me a bit as I researched - not enough to distract, just pleasant company. I have to admit, it was nice having someone else out here. I worried about food, but she did bring a little with her, which was nice. I even gave her my pants so she'd shutup about being naked.
She complained about having nothing to do though. Here you go - a silver horseshoe pin. This is the shiniest shithole ever.
Day 5
Toni spent a lot of the time sleeping - she might as well, there was nothing for her to do yet but eat our food - when some pirate asshole with a club claimed he was going to take our shit. He said he needed to prepare first though - which worked out great, because his gear wasn't prepared at all. He tried to steal some medicine and run, but he died shortly after. Free stuff to sell later!
I was nearly finished figuring out the smelting, and still no sign on the drop pods. Plus, I didn't know exactly where I was going to fit the smelter. Silver walls? I had no idea, but I was going to figure it out. Hell, an outdoor smelter was better than none.
Day 6
I finished figuring out smelting, and knew what had to be done next - hydroponics. We needed a reliable food source fast, something besides eating the corpses of whatever other idiots attacked us. But I got the smelter built outside, and now hopefully Toni would have something to do. I underestimated just how long it takes to smelt the one piece of slag from my drop pod would take, and Toni was developing hypothermia during it. Nonetheless, we now had a way to supply ourselves steel. She turned it off after, and we waited for more stuff to arrive.
Day 7
Toni kept trying to hog the research table - out of boredom I think - but that was the one thing she really wasn't good at. She helped a little whenever it was my turn to sleep at least, but I was surprised there wasn't anything for her to do. Nonetheless, with how quiet it was out here, we became fast friends. We were a lot alike, and while it's possible she might be a burden on food supplies for now, she'd be invaluable in the future. Gotta use that Glitterworld medicine for something.
I took the steel we smelted and set up some defensive pillars, and saved the rest for an emergency. I let Toni build the roofs just to let her feel useful. Don't worry Toni - you'll be quite busy soon enough. I hope.
With so little to do, I'd nearly finished figuring out how to set up hydroponics. But we needed materials. We'll see what the gods throw at us.
Quote from: Quizart on January 27, 2017, 11:55:54 PMThis is the shiniest shithole ever.
Oh man, that got me. XD
Sounds like you've got a pretty good start, good luck with the not freezing to death. Just cross your fingers and hope someone wearing wool shows up.
Quote from: CrazyEyes on January 27, 2017, 10:11:21 PM
I didn't want to drop hundreds or even thousands of silver to get ~75 building materials
A grand statue yields 195 material. Awful quality ones are a fairly good deal, and shoddy and poor aren't particularly bad deals either. Even normal isn't a total ripoff.
Smelting only gets a 25% yield as opposed to the 75% yield of deconstruction, but even then awful weapons get you materials for not much more than double the raw material price, so I go for them when I'm short on materials.
Really? Hmm. I'd assumed they would provide so little material it wouldn't be worth it, but I'll have to start keeping an eye out for good deals like that. It might get expensive, but that'll help keep my colony wealth down so the mechanoid raids won't be as scary.
Day 8
Some lady named Rosa asked us for help, she was being chased by pirates. I said I couldn't promise anything, but you can come this way. What she didn't tell me was that she was from a nudist colony... and in the nude. In -84C weather. Except pants! She only had on pants. Was pants a cultural thing here? And she was a slowpoke on top of that. Yeah, no way she was making it. Sucks too, she was a hell of a doctor - can't get enough of those.
Now the pirates chasing her meant business. One of them was dressed very warmly, he'd definitely be a problem - luckily he just had a crappy pistol. The others probably wouldn't survive the weather, but they had real guns, a decent machine pistol, and a good sniper rifle! I wanted their clothes and their guns.
Unfortunately, I was at the tail end of my "research until exhausted" plan - which I now began to see the flaw in. I got a little sleep in - it's a long way to the base - while Toni built a few more fortifications. She bundled it a few times - goodbye precious steel - but eventually got it, and we still had a bit in reserve. I forced myself up, and we got ready to kill, if they made it that far.
I was worried the pirates would simply capture this "Rose" person and run - and sure enough, thats what they tried to do. I shot down the first guy - machine pistol guy - quickly, and I got one shot off in the really warmly dressed guy, but it was just a flesh wound and he ran off with Rose. But she didn't survive, and he just dropped the corpse and left, sniper rifle guy covering their escape. Toni repaired the walls while we waited to see if they even made it, and I went back to bed. They did unfortunately - no coat or sniper rifle - but even that brief fight was bringing hypothermia, and I wouldn't risk sending Toni after them with a club in the wide open area. Still, a machine pistol is a nice pickup at least - and possible meat if needed...
I'd decided to be a lot more lax on the sleep schedule, but eating was still at a "i'm about to get malnutrition" basis. Have to stretch these supplies out.
Day 11
Still no drop pods - I was getting really worried I should have built a com station instead. Some guy named Joe wandered in, demanding he was part of the group now - except this fat, slow, gay dude was unwilling to do ANYTHING except shoot people and research - and he sucked at the second one. He did bring us some nice meals though, and very warm clothing, as well as some armor! Thanks Fat Joe, you will be remembered (hopefully not as tasty) - you were far more helpful in death than you ever would have been alive.
Yet he had no pants. Where were all the pants?
Some pirates wandered by later, but they decided to "prepare" - and by that I mean, freeze to death after wandering around. One of them was kind enough to donate an assault rifle and another set of armor. Now I felt pretty prepared for combat - but we still needed a food source...
Oh, he DID have pants - so I'm wearing a dead man's pants now. Creepy, but better than no pants.
Day 15
The first drop pods finally - two poor souls that would freeze to death long before I could rescue them. Some free steel though, and a small bit of clothing to sell. Plus more meat if things get desperate - which they are. Despite stringent rationing, we're down to 10 packaged meals, and hydroponics are still far away. It looks like we'll be eating humans after all...
A scyther decided to attack. Interestingly, he only shot at Engie (who was sitting behind some steel, not firing back, since it was too far away) while Tori slowly whittled him down with an assault rifle. Unfortunately, he dropped dead, so no fancy parts from him. Engie ended up actually having to repair the steel block during the fight it took so long, and nearly got frostbite, as we have still only gotten one set of warm clothing. Oh well, back to research for me.
Day 16
Our first drop pod! And it's a good one - not only did it drop a bunch of useful slag, but food too! Raw potatoes is better than raw human. Toni finally felt useful, as she hauled stuff around all day. Now Engie is feeling useless, as she continues researching stuff we don't truly need because it's too cold for her to venture out. As more stuff appears I'm sure things will get in motion.
Day 18
Ate the last of the prepared meals today - it's on to raw rice until I can get a stove up. I guess that's what I should spend this precious steel on - in case I have to cook human. Cooked human is better than raw, at least.
Some rancher guy asked for help, and we said "sure, come bring us fresh meat." Which he did, and plenty of it. Primitive tribesmen with bows and arrows, and shitty clothing.
Only one of them got away - the one with warm clothing again, damn it. All these mediocre cloth parkas...
Toni took an arrow to the leg, so she rested up, while Engie donned her normal gear and started putting away bodies. I worried about the mental state of our team, but a soothing psychic voice told us all it was going to be okay...
Day 22
The last of the regular meals will be eaten today. Tomorrow... it's cooked human. We are not looking forward to this... but whatever it takes to survive. Anything.
Some pirates wandered in - as usual, most of them froze to death. But this time, the one in warm gear lead the charge - and now I don his warm gear. I don't like wearing dead men's gear, but - anything to survive.
Day 24
Still only seen one cargo pod, and without steel, we can't build hydroponics or an orbital beacon. And so, we eat human flesh. Cooked or not, this is awful. At least there is a good supply.
Mental states are... holding. This is taking it's toll, but so far no one has snapped. We found a bit of beer on one of the corpses... maybe it'll take the edge off.
Day 25
One of the rare and majestic thrumbo wandered into our forsaken corner of the world. It walked straight up to our holdout, on top of our stockpile... and froze to death. Some part of me was sad that it sacrificed itself to feed us, but I take it as a sign of hope. We can go weeks without eating humans now. I hope it's enough...
Day 27
For as forsaken and dangerous as I was told this place would be, we spend half of our time researching stuff we'll probably never use or wandering around bored. I was just thinking "I wish something would happen, even something bad..."
And then Toni's father landed in a drop pod. Naked. On the edge of the wastes.
She's going to be chipper for the next while. If I end up having to cook him, I'll make sure she doesn't eat him, at least. And we have a lot of thrumbo meat, so I can at least not add cannabilism to her list of issues. Poor Toni...
And then the whispers in the back of the mind came back. But they were not kind this time.
I knew Toni was going to lose it, it was just a matter of how and how soon. We both knew it. I suggested she go "patrol" far away from the base, and she understood. She needed her catharsis.
Day 29
Somehow Toni persisted through the terrible whispers in our minds, even helping out to haul the latest "tribe chasing some naked idiot" loot and bodies back to the base. Winter has begun, and even our cold weather gear is barely keeping us warm outside. And it's only going to get colder. We're going to have to start watching our hypothermia again, something I thought we were finally past. It's cold, and while we do have a few weeks of food, there is no long-term plan in sight. We need a miracle at this point - a sustainable one, although I'd gladly accept another Thrumbo sacrifice.
Day 32
As the thrumbo meat supply dwindles lower and lower, I begin to think boredom might kill me instead of starvation. There's no shortage of idiot pirates or tribesman, or people flinging themselves to the planet's surface naked, to eat if we must. But other than occasionally dig graves and haul their bodies in - probably to be dug up later - there's nothing to do. I've been researching how to make drugs just to make Toni happy and give us something to talk about. I was told this place was exciting, dangerous. Where is the challenge I crave? Not just tests of my sanity, but of my skill?
Day 33
A second drop pod of resources! A bunch of... chemfuel? Maybe one day we'll need it, but the slag is more exciting for now! This will give us 120 steel... enough to build an orbital comm station, and not be able to trade anything without a beacon. Just to tease us. I'm not sure how we'll use it, but even just having more as a backup is better than nothing.
A scyther decided to come in on a drop pod - luckily, it landed near me while I was hauling, not the base. Once again, the fight took so long that Toni had to stop to eat, and I had to repair my cover. Eventually we downed it though - and I successfully recovered a scyther blade. If I ever get an orbital beacon, that might fetch some good money. Unfortunately, it did get one good shot off on Toni - her right humerus is gone. I don't trust my surgeon skills enough to try to replace it, and even though I used the best medicine on her, it's going to be permanent. Maybe one day we'll be able to give her bionics...
Day 34
Not 30 seconds after I butcher two more corpses to prepare us for the inevitable, a 3rd cargo pod drops a bunch of warg meat. Figures, but I'm grateful nontheless. More importantly, that extra slag actually means we might be able to set up an orbital trade beacon. Not eating human again is a tad higher priority though.
Toni's bad arm is very unfortunate, because she can't haul nearly as much as she used to. She still handles slag effectively enough at least, so I'll try to handle the stuff that requires more dexterity. She's a dear friend, and we're going to make it through this. With our sanity. I hope.
Day 35
Another drop pod arrival again, but this time it was pirates. They had terrible gear for the weather, but they landed close enough to give us trouble. She lost the pinky on her other hand - she only grinned, oddly enough. "Now it's getting exciting", she said. I smiled back. I'm glad she found me - we were meant to take this place on together. I forgot she was a masochist as well, the bit of pain she's in just seems to make her feel alive. We make a good team.
Day 37
Toni had been on the edge for a long time since her father died, and she finally went over it. Overall though, it wasn't too bad - she pigged out and ate a few meals. Food is tough, but at least she didn't inadvertently eat people, just compounding her issues. Poor girl. She feels better now though, and with this meat that came down we should be able to avoid eating people for a while. Hopefully long enough to get an orbital trade beacon up.
Day 39
Having to bury another half a dozen pirates, on top of my all too recent butchering of corpses preparing to eat them, I finally snapped. I wandered around for what was probably days, though I remember little of it. Luckily, nothing bad happened during that time, and the temperature was just barely tolerable in my gear.
Day 42 We have hauled enough slag (and I smelted it while Toni hauled more) to get an orbital trade console and beacon up. The extra power consumption is a bit of a worry, but the battery still seems to stay full. The extra steel will be saved up for a hydroponics system as soon as possible, we'll see how that goes. I haven't researched in over a week, which is nice - being busy keeps my mind off of... things...
Toni went on yet another food binge, her way of freaking out. Better than lighting the place on fire, but we only had a few days before it was time to eat human again. She ate ALL the non-human food. Now I have no choice, I'm getting hungry...
Day 43
Toni ate over a dozen meals in her pigout rage. She's going to flipping her shit when she wakes up, the realization she just ate over a full corpse worth of meals. Now I have to cook more, and probably butcher more too. Ugh...
Some granite blocks came in a cargo pod. That's interesting... building material. Maybe even lay down some floors. Give us our own rooms. Or most importantly, set up a space for the hydroponics. Time to lay out a plan, once Toni wakes her fat ass up, finishes freaking out, and hauls it here.
She did. I wish I had said hey to her when she did. Because it was the last time we talked.
A TON of pirates, at least a dozen, came at us. Despite the -131C weather, they somehow made it to our base. And an idiot with frag grenades... well, Toni dodged the frag grenades, but unfortunately caught on fire. And then she ran around on fire. I don't know why she didn't stop drop and roll, but the enemy showed no mercy, and mowed her down. I killed as many of the bastards as I could. What's worse - she technically lived, but she had no arms. I tried to patch her up anyway... but it was no use. Toni was dead. I may never be the same.
Day 44
Everything is on fire. A circuit blew up, and half of the building is on fire. And I'm on fire now, trying to put it out. I think it's infected. I think I should have stayed in the simulator. I think...
Author's Note: The End! On to attempt number 8!
Reminder: don't build conduits. Can't have a *zzzt* without conduits, and your base is so small that everything is in range of the battery regardless.
Quote from: Shurp on January 28, 2017, 08:09:35 PM
Reminder: don't build conduits. Can't have a *zzzt* without conduits, and your base is so small that everything is in range of the battery regardless.
Unless, of course, it's not :p
You build conduits eventually, and it's often long before you're able to sustain a second pawn.
If you plan your base carefully, you can go a long time without conduit. I've never needed conduit before I had three pawn in my attempts.
Taking Zhentars advice for my Ice Sheet colony, I simply built a second "circuit" for my greenhouse. Energy and material efficiency is crap though ;)
Flicks act as conduit (can they Zzzt!?) and can be used to disconnect things that are farther away and not permanently needed.
How did you generate a fully iced world?
Quote from: Thyme on January 29, 2017, 04:58:45 AMFlicks act as conduit (can they Zzzt!?) and can be used to disconnect things that are farther away and not permanently needed.
Mercifully no, switches do not seem to be able to trigger Zzzt! events. I used a switch attached directly to a battery for a while to squeeze out some extra range and it never exploded.
Am i the only one finding this challenge unnecessarily hard?
Attempt 7, everything was going right, got an exotic then bulk goods trader, had a smelter's table, and a greenhouse that was in the process of making food.
Then two raiders show up with a molotov while Engie's partner is going berzerk, and the fire burns the whole base down. Darn!
Okay, i know this is basically the hardest thing in the game, but still, if it's been done by many people already, it's gotta be less hard than i'm finding it.
Also, how do you keep a steady supply of power? Two solar panels, three wind turbines, and a battery, and i couldn't go a three-day stretch without running out of power. Thinking back, turning off the smelter would have helped, but still.
@ Quasarrgames
The point of it is to be hard. See the name: "challenge". :) No, is not that hard, it just need constant micromanagement and planning. (Right now, the "start with as little as possible" in a "as unfriendly as possible biome" become starting point for most player made scenarios.)
Unfortunately your biggest enemy early-game becomes your best ally end-game (cold). Because of that, most of end-game raids will be mech based (their minimal temperature is -1000 C I think). You will drown in plasteel -> colony value will rise -> more mech raids -> more plasteel , etc.
I have NO idea why you need that many power sources. For a huge room (as in 13x13) you need 4, (max 5) heaters and 1 sun lamp. Add an electric stove, comm and beacon and 2 hydroponics / person. 2 wind turbines and 2 solar panels are more than enough.
Link sun lamp to panels to save power during night. (-1600)
Heaters, comm & 'ponics -> battery -> turbines (175 x 4 + 70 x 4 +200)
Stove and beacon turn on as needed.
Double layered walls are a must, or your heating will drain all your electricity.
Those things are bare minimum for survival.
Sorry for the long silence, I came down with a high fever and wasn't really able to focus on my writing. I did just play through a big chunk, and here's what happened:
Day 196
Well, we survived our attack on the ship, but we lost both turrets and we got pretty banged up. But the worst was yet to come. Just as we were dragging our battery back to camp to lick our wounds, a group of mechanoids arrived and started heading towards our base from the north. We didn't even have time to staunch our bleeding wounds. Those scythers were closing in fast and we had no choice but to limp over to the sandbags and get ready for a fight.
And it was a hell of a fight. We only had one turret built at that position and it went down pretty quickly, nearly killing Wobber in the resulting explosion. Probably the only thing that saved our lives was that it took us long enough to get there that the mechanoids were fairly close, and Cyber was able to hit most of them with his EMP grenades. Still, we were all on death's door by the end of that fight. It was a chaotic couple of hours in the hospital after that, with everyone who wasn't in immediate danger perfomring triage on those who were. Wobber and Hakuja both nearly bled out, but we just managed to save them.
Even so, Wobber had his ear shot off, and both he and Cyber have a shattered bone in one of their legs. There's nothing we can do for them right now, but if I can get a proper workshop set up maybe I can buold them some suitable replacements.
There's so much blood in the hospital right now it's making me sick just to be around it. None of us are in any condition to clean, though. We'll have to do it later, as well as investigate those cargo pods we heard crashing nearby.
Day 202
Most of us have recovered from our ordeal - at least well enough to move around and get some work done - and while I was going to check on the cargo pods I saw a large group of tribals massing on the horizon. Just what we need. That corn will have to wait, it's time to get everyone back on the line for another round.
We emerged victorious, though we have another round of cuts and bruises to show for it. It could have been much worse, but by focusing our fire on the melee attackers before they got close enough to engage us hand-to-hand we were able to put enough rounds downrange that the tribals' morale broke and they ran. Poor Wobber had a bone in his arm shattered by a lucky shot from a pila, though.
I'm not... super proud of what we did next. One of the tribals survived... and Cyber needed a lung. So we dragged the prisoner inside and Hakuja stopped his bleeding long enough to open him up and take one of his lungs. Then she dragged him outside to freeze.
It was the right thing to do. Wasn't it? Why should we value the lives of the prople who come to kill us over one of our own? But no matter how much I tell myself that, I can't help but feel like this place is making me into a monster. I need to get out of here. I need to get off this planet.
I broke down crying that night for the first time since I lost my hand. Norman was there and he just held me. I think he understands. I'm so glad I have him with me.
Day 209
I've been pretty focused on my work the last few days, and it's finally paid off. We have a new building! A proper building, too, not some ramshackle hut i cobbled together in a few hours so I wouldn't freeze. This new building is going to be our dining room, kitchen, and food storage area. It's a bit cramped, but we can't afford to be wasteful with our resources just yet.
Hmm... it's like someone out in space can hear this, because some cargo pods of steel landed nearby just as I was writing that. Hours later, some pods of milk shoed up as well. I can't help but brace myself for the hammer to drop. It feels like whenever things go our way for a bit, that's when we get slammed the worst. Eyes open for killer robots, everyone.
Day 212
See? A group of pirates arived today. They're massing just out of range of our guns to "plan" their attack. That's good for us, since it means they may freeze to death and retreat without a fight.
Day 213
As expected, enough of the pirates freeze that they see the error of their ways and leave to take up new careers in criminal justice.
Well, probably not, but you never know, right? Anyway, we got some more melee weapons to melt down out of the deal.
Day 216
Norman didn't tell me he had a sister, but today she showed up on the ice asking if we could take her in. Of course I accepted - Norman and I are married now, which means realy, she's my sister too.
But it all goes wrong. She shows up without any clothes on, and despite Norman running out to meet her on the ice she's dead from the cold before he even has the chance to pick her up.
This time it's my turn to hold Norman while he cries. We'll dig a grave and bury her seperately from all the raiders. It's not much, but it's all we can do out here.
Day 221
Another massive group of tribals showed up. I've given up counting how many are in each raid. Where could they all be coming from? Some of the die off from the cold, but not enough that they don't still attack us. thankfully, they are distracted by our turrets and we're able to force a retreat without taking any damage. I think I'm going to build more turrets for each defensive line - they seem to be incredibly useful.
Day 227
Another psychic ship crashed nearby. We'll have to deal with it soon.
First, though, something incredible happened - Norman's mother Sara showed up. She must be devestated by the loss of her daughter, and nearly dies herself trying to get to us. We manage to get her into the warmth, though, and she's going to pull through. I'm happy for Norman - having his mother around might help take the edge off the loss of his sister. I hope they can keep each other's spirits up.
Day 230
Everything is in place. We hauled over a battery, set up turrets, and built defenses to hide behind. Sara even insisted on helping, and being a lousy shot we gave her the EMP grenades.
Alright. Let's do this. We can do this.
Well, we made it through. The turrets were once again invaluable in absorbing enemy fire, though this is a really expensive way to fight. Sara took an incindiary launcher round and got burned up a bit, but I carried her back to the hospital and it doesn't look like there's going to be too much lasting damage. I think the next order of business needs to be to get a workshop up ASAP so I can start building more cost-effective ways of dealing with those crashed ships.
Day 233
A wander named Fish came by asking to join. We warned him about the incredibly harsh conditions, but he said that was exactly what he was looking for. Strange, but whatever. Welcome to the colony, Fish!
I started drawing up plans to build a bedroom for him and he asks me to keep it simple if possible. ...yeah, no problem.
Day 234
More mechanoids arrived today. Fish says he's a pretty good shot, so we give him a salvaged minigun to use against the machines. We haven't had time to install new turrets so it's strictly us against them. Nothing to do but dig in and wait.
The five scythers arrive first and we open fire. It seems like it's going well until the last one gets a lucky shot off and severs Fish's right arm entirely. Hakuja grabs him and drags him into the hospital while Norman heads out with our best rifle to begin the long, arduous task of kiting the two centipedes.
While he was doing that, a pirate merchant showed up and bought a great deal of our raider clothing and tribal weapons. They happened to be selling a prosthetic arm, so we went ahead and bought one for Fish. We picked up some penoxycyline, overpriced medicine and components in return. I also bought a bunch of smokeleaf joints, since our own supply couldn't keep up with the extra people. Even with all that we managed to make back 500 or so silver - not bad at all.
We made it through the attack, but it was pretty rough. Norman was too exhausted to keep kiting the centipedes forever, and when he tried to make it back to rest they got inside our base. We all got shot up and burned in the subsequent fight. We're alive, though, and that's what matters.
Day 236
More money fell from the sky today, but I'm a little too preoccupied to celebrate. All the burns people suffered are starting to get infected. We don't have the cleanest hospital in the world so it's going to take a lot of dedicated care for everyone to start feeling better. Good thing we bought that medicine.
Day 240
Another bulk goods trader came in range of our comms today! We had to give up most of our leather stockpiles, but we got another thousand steel and wood and like 1400 slate blocks for our trouble. It didn't cost us too much of our silver in the end, either. These supplies should probably go towards building us a workshop.
Day 243
Wobber and Sara pulled Norman and I aside today and told us that they were starting a relationship. Norman seemed a bit uncomfortable, but I'm happy for them. If they can find the same peace and joy together that Norman and I have, then I support them 100%.
As if on cue, a distant crash and an evil pulse in our minds signalled the arrival of yet another psychic ship part. I won't have time to make a proper workshop before thid thing drives us all over the edge, so we'll have to make do with turrets and walls. We all start dragging the necessary supplies across the ice to the crashed ship, steeling ourselves for one more fight to the death with those metal monsters.
If there are no more entries after this, you can probably guess how it went.
Not so hard with fishing mod only thing hard is if you start as tribe no wood even ice sheet is harder than sea ice
Quote from: jmababa on February 04, 2017, 02:33:45 AM
Not so hard with fishing mod only thing hard is if you start as tribe no wood even ice sheet is harder than sea ice
You, again? Dude, as tribe you get tribal wear. Cold insulation on tribal wear is crap, and in SICC outside starting temperature is -65.
Fishing mod? What's the point of using mods in a challenge?
Ice Sheet harder than Sea Ice? Honestly you are either a troll or drunk.
On Ice Sheet you have stone clumps all over the place, also patches of rocks that can be mined. On Sea Ice there is only ice. Nothing useful there. On Ice Sheet there are usually a couple of hares or polar bears, wolves or even muffalos. On Sea Ice you can consider yourself lucky if you find a hare or get a "rare thrumbo" event. (at temps lower than -75C)
Quote from: jmababa on February 04, 2017, 02:33:45 AM
Not so hard with fishing mod only thing hard is if you start as tribe no wood even ice sheet is harder than sea ice
No offense, but playing with a mod that lets you secure an easy food source isn't really in the spirit of the challenge. I'd encourage you to disable your mods and then see how easy you think it is. ;D
I'm relatively sure that this person has either "not tried this challenge" or "abuses dev mode". In either case, this challenge isn't so hard with the "I can't die mod" either.
Day 251
We made it through attacking the ship without sustaining any major injuries, even though Fish was off wandering around all sad instead of helping us. I'm uppset he wasn't there to defend the colony when we needed him, but I can't judge him too harshly. I think he's dealing with some sort of addiction - Hakuja says the symptoms look like go-juice. Poor guy.
Our turrets protected us well during that fight, but unfortunately we got a bit too overzealous with their placement. We had five this time, which I thought would be enough to keep us from getting hit at all. I was... mostly right, but we put them a bit too close together. When the first one blew up, the explosion went right down the line and took them all out. That was an expensive mistake, but the steel we got back from the ship part should pay for it. Hopefully by the time the next one of these things falls we'll be more prepared.
Day 253
Just as we were getting patched up from the mechanoid fight, another large group of tribals arrived to try and kill us. Where are they all coming from? I wasn't under the impression there was enough food out here to sustain that many people. They must have captured an advanced hydroponics facility or something.
The fight... does not go well. They swarm us, and no matter how many we kill another just seems to take their place. Before we know it we're fighting hand-to-hand, and most of us go down. Sara wasn't going to let that be the end of us, though. She grabbed a salvaged triple rocket launcher out of the stockpile, clumsily aimed it downrange and fired. She managed to take out a large chunk of the tribals in quick sucession, and the arrival of thunder on the battlefield must have been enough to break their spirit. They turned and ran.
Sara did her best to drag us all into the hospital and get us patched up, but there's only so much one person can do, and Fish bled out from his wounds before any of us could save him.
I'm PISSED. I know we can't save everyone, but we should at least be able to keep our own people from dying, right? Norman, bless him, does his best to console me while I dig a grave for Fish. The funeral will be minimal. It's what he would have wanted.
As we bury him, a wave of darkness slowly engulfs the sky. Little flecks of ash fall on our heads. This isn't toxic fallout though - a supervolcano somewhere must have erupted, and now the stratosphere is being engulfed in a cloud of thick ash. It'll block out the sunlight and make it even colder around here. Great. Maybe the next group of raiders will actually freeze solid standing up. That'd be something to see.
Day 262
We're still sort of reeling from the ship part and tribal raid combo, but we're slowly getting back on our feet. Wobber and Sara are even getting married! The thought of Wobber becoming his father-in-law is weirding Norman out a bit, and I'm having great fun teasing him about it incessantly.
Also, a single cargo pod landed just on the edge of our vision carrying mortar shells. I don't have a workshop set up to produce these yet, so this will be invaluable the next time a ship part shows up. The idea is, we surround the ship part with buries shells then shoot it at extreme range to coax the mechanoids out. They trigger the shells, and the whole thing goes boom. Expensive, sure, but not as expensive as building fortifications and turrets every time, and certainly safer.
Day 267
All remians quiet, and we're using the time to get a workshop up and running. This will make the production of goods more efficent (read: possible) and give us a chance to work on more advanced projects.
Also, an exotic goods trader and a textiles trader showed up on the same day. We use the opportunity to sell off all our looted clothes and trade it in for a supply of components, medicine, gold, plasteel and about 1000 more muffalo wool. Not long until we can get an assembly line going and make our own clothes.
Day 274
Just as we were finihing the workshop's granite outer walls a poison ship crashed RIGHT outside it, nearly crushing me. It frightems me that these ship parts might be getting more... accurate, for lack of a better word, but at least we have a way of dealing with it without a fight now. Hakuja and I haul over the mortar shells and start digging. I'm not sure how many will be enough so we just surround the damn thing. Can't be too safe.
Worked like a charm. I pegged the ship with a sniper rifle, and when the mechanoids came out the IED traps cooked off and then exploded just as planned. The ship was instantly obliterated, along with all the scythers, and the centipedes were incapacitated by the blast. We can still salvage most of the ship, too, putting the steel it was made from towards a new set of traps for the next ship part to darken our door.
For the first time in months I'm beginning to feel like things are going well. I barely even notice the canabalism anymore.
Day 281
The worlshop is done, and while it has lots of room for expansion right now it contains a machining table so we can build much-needed weapons and armor, as well as disassemble dead mechanoids to recover supplies. We've also moved our electric smelter in here - it's hard to melt slag in sub-arctic temperatures. There's also a tailoring area so we can start making our own clothes out of all the wool we've invested in over the years.
We have lots of room to add a high-tech research area, a larger machining bench for making components, and an area i've set aside to dedicate to production of various prosthetics. Practically everyone around here has a shattered bone or missing digits at this point and the ability to make our own replacements would help a lot.
In slightly worse news, we ran out of smokeleaf some time ago and everyone around here is really suffering from the withdrawl. Life SUCKS without that stuff to take the edge off. So now all the old problems are still there, and we have the added problem of physiological torment. It's going to be a rough couple of weeks, but we can make it. Despite everything that's happened, I still believe in us.
Day 284
Another group of tribespeople. I'm not too worried, though, since these apparently need time to "prepare" and it's -121C out. As expected, they're frozen or gone within hours. Back to work.
Day 295
ANOTHER group of tribespeople. This group isn't waiting around, so we grab our guns and head for the front line. A couple hours and some bruises and cuts later the tribals have retreated and we have a fresh load of corpses to haul.
Oh... oh, poor Hakuja. She didn't say anything during the fight, but one of the arrows must have caught her at just the right spot in the wrist because her whole right hand got shot off. I bandage it for her as best I can, promising her we'll get her a replacement soon. Got to get those prosthetics workbenches built soon...
Day 299
Wobber and Sara exchanged their vows today. We used the dining room for the ceremony, since it was relatively warm in there and people would have chairs to sit on. Norman made a big speech giving Wobber his blessing and saying how happy he was for them. I nearly cried. I'm glad he got over his awkwardness about this whole thing. Everyone out here deserves a shot at happiness. All we have out here is each other - it's important to hold on.
Day 300
A wanderer by the name of Py offered to join our colony today. She's not particularly great at anything, but she isn't useless at anything either and we can always use more haulers around here. I welcome her to the colony. She'll probably have a bit of a hard time adjusting, but we'll give her all the time she needs.
Day 331
It's hard to believe nearly two whole seasons have passed without incident. It's been a wonderful opportunity to get some real work done. For one thing, everyone is much happier to be wearing brand new clothes that don't have bullet holes and didn't come from a corpse. Plus this muffalo wool keeps us so warm we could probably survive even if the sun went out.
((Author's Note: No they couldn't. I was having trouble wrapping my head around just how cold -145C is, so I looked it up. -145C is about 125 Kelvin. To put that in perspective, room temperature, about 21C, is something like 290 Kelvin. 0 Kelvin is, of course, absolute zero. So on the scale between "comfortable room temperature" and "utterly devoid of all energy and heat", we're more than halfway there.
The coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was -93.2C in Antarctica in 1983. This ice sheet gets fifty degrees colder than that. During winter on Mars, the poles can get to be around -125C. We've still got that beat by a solid twenty degrees. The idea that you could survive such temperatures thanks to a wool parka and hat is preposterous. We have cold weather gear (not counting spacesuits and the like) meant to keep you alive in temperatures like -30C, but those setups always involve several layers of insulating and waterproof gear with as much coverage as possible. Wool IS a good insulator, but it's not THAT good. :P))
Most importantly, though, we have a new high-tech research bench with an attached multi-analayzer for advanced computing. I've spent the better part of the last two seasons burying myself in researching how glitterworlds manufacture their bionics. Thanks to the processing power of this station and some insights gained from studying my own power claw at length, I think I've worked out a solution. I drafted up plans for a workstation that should be capable of manufacturing such parts and began making a list of everyone's injuries to determine who most needs replacement limbs. The list is as follows:
Myself: My power claw is an adaquete replacement for my left hand, but my right hand has been missing my thumb and index finger ever since those first harrowing few days on the ice. I shudder to think about what things were like back then, but it also makes me all the more proud of how far we've come. Anyway, a bionic replacement for my right hand would really help me get back up to full working speed.
Hakuja: Needs a replacement right hand as well, obviously. She is also missing her left index finger and left big toe, but I can't justify spending the resources just for that.
Cyber: Poor guy. He has a shattered left humerous, necessitating we replace his entire arm at the shoulder if he wants to regain full manipulation. One of his eyes is scarred from an inferno cannon, and if it's not too expensive we should do what we can to restore his vision. He also has a shattered rib I can't do anything about right now, and is missing his right lung from some attack from years ago. Bionics can't solve that problem either. He's also missing a toe on each foot thanks to frostbite, but again, that's not enough of a problem to justify spending the resources.
Norman: He's getting by well enough with his wooden foot replacement but he could really benefit from an upgrade. Other than that he's the picture of health. Don't worry sweetie, we'll have you walking better than ever in no time.
Wobber: Missing an ear, but that's not a priority. He has some pretty bad asthma - guy just would not lay off the smokeleaf, no matter how much I warned him. But I can't fix that without a replacement set of lungs. What I can fix are his shattered bones. He's got a shattered left radius, necessitating a new arm, and a shattered left tibia, so he'll need a new leg as well. Once those are in place he can go back to pulling his weight around here.
Sara: Speaking of pulling weight, Sara threw out her back a couple of weeks ago. She blamed it on her advancing age, but I say it's nothing science can't fix. A spine transplant seems a little more advanced than just replacing a limb, but I've thouroughly researched and reviewed the technique and I'm willing to try it if she is.
Py: Py has no injuries whatsoever. Fortunate for her, but I have this nagging feeling that it's just a matter of time.
So all told we're going to need two hands, two arms, an eye, a foot, a leg, and a spine. ...and, if we can get our hands on enough prisoners, three lungs. I don't much like the thought of that, but right now I'd give a lot just to see everyone looking more like their old selves again.
Oxygen freezes at -219'C, you're two thirds of the way there!
(Carbon dioxide froze long ago at -79'. Nitrogen freezes at -210. So you'll have pure oxygen to breathe for a short while as the atmosphere collapses into snow around you)
It wouldn't collapse into snow - it would have become liquid thirty degrees ago, at -183C. That's less than forty degrees away from the low winter temperatures... I wonder if it'd be possible to cool a 1x1 room to that temparature on this map with four coolers. Nitrogen turns to liquid at -196C, which isn't much farther. We could potentially have a room so cold there would be no air inside, just liquid nitrogen and oxygen with hunks of frozen CO2. :P
Cooling a room 40C below ambient is no harder on the ice sheet than it is in temperate forest (i.e. not particularly difficult).
In the real world, you wouldn't end up with a room with no air in it, just less. The phase depends on both the atmospheric pressure and the vapor pressure; for example even though -197C is below the boiling point of nitrogen at 1atm, you wouldn't have any nitrogen condensation because the vapor pressure would be about .85atm; it would evaporate near instantly in our .78atm nitrogen atmosphere. A few degrees colder and it will start condensing, but as the air starts condensing the air pressure would drop, lowering the boiling point, limiting further condensation.
Actually, you can use coolers to get down to -270 °C (that's 3 K!). Basically everything but hydrogen and maybe helium should be solid at those temperatures unless it has so low pressure to be nearly a vacuum (funnily enough, a scyther spawned in there didn't seem to care much about it).
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You can go well below 0K with quantum cooler mod. Cringey!
My busy school schedule means I can only really update this on the weekends, so sorry about the waiting. The end is in sight, though! I'm well into the shipbuilding research and now I just need to amass enough materials to build the damn thing before I'm overrun by mechanoids. They're the only real threat out here on the ice.
Interestingly, I might not be able to fully stop the cannabalism before the ship is built. I have a hydroponics setup now but it sucks up a lot of power, even with a Time of Day switch managing the sun lamp for me. I'm trying to scale up, but windmills take up a lot of space and every one I build is resources I could be putting into the ship.
Hopefully I'll get to a point where I can at least provide a steady supply of simple rice meals - not having a constant -13 mood debuff from cooked cannabalism would be very helpful.
Day 334
I've lost count of how many thrumbos have died out here on the ice. I don't know why they would keep coming here. Aren't they supposed to be wise? I appreciate having fresh meat out here but we're not in danger of starving, exactly, so what's going on? ...could it be they're just stupid?
Day 335
A small group of pirates tried to attack the colony today. Maybe they were tracking the thrumbos? In any case, while they got close enough to threaten us, a couple of casualties combined with the cold caused them to flee before any of us were hurt. Time to start looting the bodies. Hakuja got to wach a couple of them die, too, so she'll be in a better mood the next couple of days.
Day 340
I feel like we've finally collected enough knowledge to start researching the shipbuilding process. This could be our ticket off this frozen rock once and for all. It can't come fast enough.
Also, a bunch of cargo pods full of slate blocks crashed nearby. More building material is always helpful!
Day 343
A textiles trader came by today, so we offloaded all our looted clothes and bought more wool. It's amazing how cluttered with garbage our stockpiles can get. We have so much more room for things now. We even made a couple thousand silver for our trouble. If living here wasn't so brutal this would actually be a decent way to make a living.
Day 345
This happens too often to be a coincidence. Py's sister radioed us today, begging us to protect her from a pirate raid. I'm not about to turn down someone's family so we agree to help. Euterpe crashed down in an escape pod with a squad of pirates right behind her. We scattered to defensive positions and prepared for a fight. However, the pirates weren't interested in us - once they saw the wealth of our stockpiles, they decided to forget about Euterpe, grab what they could and run. Fortunately we managed to gun down enough of them that they dropped what they'd grabbed and broke into a full retreat.
Euterpe is slow on her feet thanks to a knee injury in her childhood, and as a result we can't use her for hauling or cleaning since she's have to be on her feet too often. That's fine, though, since she'll be able to take over researching while I focus on more important work.
Day 346
Another pirate raid, this time from the west. They must have been following up on their allies in the drop pods. They don't fare any better than the last guys.
Day 348
A tribal raid? We certainly are popular these days. Maybe this is the universe making up for those two seasons of peace and quiet. In any case, it's freezing and they're preparing so I doubt we'll even have to switch on the turrets.
Day 371
A wanderer named Cella offered to join us today. She's good with plants, and we're finally, FIANLLY ready to expand our hydroponics setup, so she'll be a welcome addition to the colony. She seems oddly pleased with the harsh conditions.
((Author's Note: It was at this point that I noticed that Euterpe was gone. I had no idea where she went, but checking Py's Needs tab revealed that she had a debuff because of a dead sister, none other than Euterpe. I have no clue what happened. O_o ))
Day 373
A pirate merchant stopped by today. They didn't have much of anything we need, but they did take the last of our looted clothes off our hands and we got nearly 3000 silver out of the deal. What we really need is more bulk goods traders so we can buy the materials we'll need to build a ship.
Day 375
Py died today. She must have snapped or something because she ran into the hospital and started pulling people out of bed and trying to fight them. We couldn't risk her permanently crippling our wounded people so we tried to subdue her, but... well, it went wrong. Norman swung his rifle at her to try and subdue her, but she moved wrong and it ended up crushing her neck. It's not Norman's fault, though, it's mine. I could have handled that better. I should have made sure we were taking better care of her so this wouldn't have happened in the first place. It's all my fault.
Day 378
We finally have a proper hydroponics room built and our first real crop growing. It's just rice, nothing fancy, but anything is better than cooked human at this point.
Day 379
A group of pirates arrive nearby and start to prepare their attack. We start to prepare to haul a lot of bodies.
We've got bigger problems, though. Our power grid isn't robust enough to support the hydroponics setup we built, and the crops keep dying off when the power cuts out. I might have gotten a bit too eager to stop the cannabalism. We'll have to cut back on the production for a while.
Day 405
We finally managed to harvest some rice today. It's not enough food to stop with the cannabalism entirely, but we're getting there. That's a relief, because we're actually beginning to run out of corpses. I'd really hate to have to go back to counting meals - I'm going to order the construction of more windmills.
Day 407
Another group of pirates shpwed up. We thought they were starting to prepare, like the others, but it actually looks more like they're making camp. Don't they know how cold it is? They'll be dead before the sun comes up. On the bright side, we'll be able to take their supplies.
Day 411
I suppose I shouldn't have worried about the corpse situation. It seems like people always manage to make their way here to die. Today a bunch more tribals showed up trying to kill us. Haven't they figured out that this doesn't work? Granted, we actually have things worth taking now, but no assault of this colony has ever succeeded, and throwing numbers at the problem doesn't help beat the cold.
Well... some of hem got close, and were only wounded in the battle. I don't like it, but this is our chance to get some working lungs for Wobber and Cyber. We have three prisoners, so we won't need to kill anyone, and we'll use our best medicine to make sure nothing goes wrong. I'm even willing to let them go afterwards. I know this place has made us do grim things in order to survive, but we're not savages.
One of them bled out anyway. Damnit. Well... two lungs is better than none, I suppose.
Day 424
I haven't updated this in a while because things have been pretty nonstop. We got two mechanoid raids nearly on top of each other. We lived, barely, but the resulting injuries had us reeling for quite a while. As if that weren't enough, a bunch of us got infections from our wounds. It took well over a week before we were ready to start working again, and by then we'd run out of meals and I had to carefully micromanage people so they wouldn't try and eat raw human meat. You'd think they'd prefer to cook it, but I guess if there isn't a meal available right away they think they have no other recourse.
Eventually we did pull out of the downward spiral, and the resources from dismantling the mechanoids should come in very useful. It's a bit off to think that the ship that will save our lives could very well be crafted exclusively from the husks of the machines that were trying to kill us, but it's far from the most outlandish thing to happen to us around here.
I've decided to forego the production of advanced replacements for people's limbs so that we can conserve our resources to make a ship. Basic prosthetics will have to do, except where it comes to hands or eyes - manipulation and sight is too important to skimp on. Nobody wants a blind doctor with one hand performing surgery. This means the end is in sight for us, though. We just have to keep researching, get one or two more trade ships to come by and not give up.
((Author's Note: The most outlandish thing would have to be the sheer amount of family members the game tries to add to my colony. I've gotten wanderer requests from BOTH of Cella's parents - I turned them down because of bad traits, and a couple days after each they BOTH radioed AGAIN, this time being chased by pirates. I was pleased to learn that, while declining that particular request to join results in the death of the refugee, it doesn't give a debuff to my colonist for the death of a family member. That means I don't have to deal with any more pirate drop pod raids just because someone's sherrif brother called me up trying to join. Still, it's a bit silly. Once you have a handful of colonists, especially if they come from a variety of factions, it feels like every third event involves someone's relative.))
Quote from: CrazyEyes on February 10, 2017, 04:44:15 PM
((Author's Note: The most outlandish thing would have to be the sheer amount of family members the game tries to add to my colony. I've gotten wanderer requests from BOTH of Cella's parents - I turned them down because of bad traits, and a couple days after each they BOTH radioed AGAIN, this time being chased by pirates. I was pleased to learn that, while declining that particular request to join results in the death of the refugee, it doesn't give a debuff to my colonist for the death of a family member. That means I don't have to deal with any more pirate drop pod raids just because someone's sherrif brother called me up trying to join. Still, it's a bit silly. Once you have a handful of colonists, especially if they come from a variety of factions, it feels like every third event involves someone's relative.))
That's a Hospitality feature; whenever the refugee event fires it tries to pick a relative if it can.
I'm surprised you're still having food/power/material problems so far into the game. Past year two or three in my last game I was finding myself with more resources than I knew what to do with.
Ah, that would explain it then, I do have Hospitality installed. I didn't want to uninstall it since I use it with my other colonies to improve visitor relations; I didn't think it changed anything besides that stuff.
Material shortages are due to the whims of the RNG gods deciding when to send me bulk goods traders. I think I've only ever gotten two the entire time I've been playing. As for the food situation, I didn't consider hydroponics a high priority because I wasn't going to starve, and smokeleaf kept anyone from caring about the cannibalism too much. Once I got enough people that I couldn't produce/buy the drug fast enough I started to think about hydroponics. At that point it was just a matter of having the space.
Day 429
Another mechanoid raid arrived today. It was mostly scythers, which is easy enough, but I'm starting to feel like we need a better system for dealing with them than just lining up behind some turrets. Maybe if we seeded the ice with traps...
Day 432
Four more thrumbos showed up today. I honestly don't have much empathy left in me for these creatures. I feel a bit bad about that, but so many of them have died here I feel like they're not rare because they're mysterious or wise or anything, they're rare because they lack self-preservation instincts. We should eat well this week.
Day 434
This is Hakuja. Engie is dead.
There was an explosion in the kitchen. Engie was right next to the conduit when it blew. She caught fire, and so did the room. We tried to get her out but it was too hot. Not sure if she burned to death or died from the heat first. We'll make a sarcophagus. The best we can. She deserves it. She gave us all hope. We won't give up. We owe it to her memory.
I don't like writing but this journal seemed important to Engie. I'll keep it updated. Entries will be short, though. Too much to do around here.
Day 439
Psychic ship crashed nearby. Best kill it soon. Norman is already inconsolable. We'll surround it with bombs. Should be enough.
Day 441
A group of pirates arrive to kill us. Should be exciting. We need something to work out feelings on. Plus I never get tired of carnage.
Raid goes well. I got to see a couple die up close. Only Wobber hurt, only a little. We took a prisoner too. Still need that third lung. Engie had lots of notes on plans to fix us. We can still do it.
Day 449
More pirates. These ones prepare. Laughable.
Day 451
More pirates. They try and make camp. Good, we need more shells.
Day 453
More pirates. They prepare again. I don't wake the others. No point. Let them sleep. Lots to haul in the morning.
Day 458
Man named Teary calls, says he's being chased by pirates. Asks for his help. I ask if he can cook. He screams yes so I tell him to come to us. We need a cook. I'm crafting now so I can't cook. Teary shows up chased by lots of pirates. Let's see who dies.
Teary gets shot once and loses his leg. People seem fragile in this world. Outcome for Teary looks bad. Even if we kill pirates he will freeze before we can help him. To bad for Teary.
Pirates take Teary and go. Like it never happened. Fine with me.
Day 459
Poison ship crashes. Components are expensive, we can ignore this for a while.
Day 460
We're going to build a big wall around the base to keep us safe. Expensive but worth it. Feels topical. Not sure why.
Day 461
More pirates. They start preparing. Why are people stupid? Doesn't matter.
Day 465
Toxic fallout. This will make building wall slower. Avoid going outside.
Day 470
This time tribals show up to prepare to die. Done wondering what's going on. Maybe it's the fallout.
Day 471
Got my bionic hand replacement today. Makes life much easier. I'm grateful to Engie for making sure we had the means to build this. Gotta work hard to get everyone off this rock. I owe it to her.
Day 475
Didn't take Norman long to move on. Caught him making out with Cella behind the hydroponics room. I asked him what stage of grief this counted as. He nearly took a swing at me. Cella stopped him. I walked away. Too much to do around here; can't afford to kill him.
Day 482
It costs most of our stone blocks but the wall is done. Now we can only be attacked from one direction unless they try and smash our walls. Engie got us through a lot but she didn't have the best head for tactics. Next time those mechanoids show up they'll be forced to get nice and close for our guns and turrets to take them apart.
((Author's Note: :'(
Yep, Engie is dead. Conduit explodes, she catches fire and runs around in a panic while the room burns. Everyone else is too far away hauling or doing jobs to stop the fire before it heats the tiny kitchen above 300C. RIP Amelia "Engie" Flais.
I'd consider that a failure and stop the challenge if I hadn't already invested so much time into this. So I'm gonna keep going until I build a ship or the mechanoids steamroll me.))
For traps, in my current colony (which I keep forgetting to share a picture of), I made 1 tile wide paths going off ~25 tiles or so from my base and then put 2-3 traps at the end of each one. Enemies want to get off the snow onto the path, so without fail they path over the traps. And then they form a single file line and shoot each other.
Lame follow-up post:
I did it. I completed this challenge. And I only cheated a little. (A lot.)
On try n, where n > 20, things weren't looking so hot. I was staring down the barrel at a long, slow starvation (since I refused to 'cop out' and go the cannibal route), since I didn't have enough metal to get even one hydroponics bay up and running due to some truly unfortunate construction failures.
But Bally wouldn't be kept down. Armed with her muffalo-wool parka, her charge rifle, and an undauntable spirit, she set out for a nearby ice sheet.
Arriving there, she promptly set to digging out a vein of steel and putting together a hydroponics bay. And from those humble beginnings, she rescued another eight colonists over time, and fought off wave after wave of mechanized death machines. (No, seriously, I had something like 40 plasteel turrets, and they were all necessary.) Stone, in particular, high-strung as he was, was instrumental in the colony's success, nearly single-handedly running the entire crafting bay.
Eventually, wanting to get back to her family and friends, Bally (my version of Engie; stats completely the same) built a ship to get herself and all the other colonists off this benighted iceball of a rock. All of them except Nails' mother, at any rate, whom nobody liked and we left in an ancient cryptosleep casket as a surprise for the next poor sucker who wanders through and decides to take advantage of our ruins.
(Full disclosure: once I got tired of the save, about ten hours after all I needed was some uranium that nobody was bringing me, I started savescumming through some of the mechanoid attacks. No pics because I couldn't figure out the screenshot functionality until something like 2/3rds through the run.)
I'll try this again...eventually. Once I'm no longer tired of cold biomes.
My biggest problem is the random nature of resource deliveries. I recognize that's where much of the challenge comes from, but it can get tiresome after a while to do everything right and still starve to death/die to infection/whatever because that's just how Cassie wants it to be.
Still, this was fun, and I'll give it another go once I'm recharged and available (maybe at the end of the semester?)
Quote from: Zhentar on February 13, 2017, 03:15:23 PM
For traps, in my current colony (which I keep forgetting to share a picture of), I made 1 tile wide paths going off ~25 tiles or so from my base and then put 2-3 traps at the end of each one. Enemies want to get off the snow onto the path, so without fail they path over the traps. And then they form a single file line and shoot each other.
That's kind of brilliant, I'm going to have to try that.
Quote from: Zhentar on February 13, 2017, 03:15:23 PM
For traps, in my current colony (which I keep forgetting to share a picture of), I made 1 tile wide paths going off ~25 tiles or so from my base and then put 2-3 traps at the end of each one. Enemies want to get off the snow onto the path, so without fail they path over the traps. And then they form a single file line and shoot each other.
If you haven't, seems like you could make this even more efficient by building a 3-wide roof over your traps area, using widely-space pillars for support. Then you only have to clear the snow once.
It only snows like once every two years, so keeping it cleared isn't much work. I don't want to give them the cover, so I'll pass on that.
So here's my base. Day 366. I got sick of dying to raids at the end of the first year, so I've been savescumming to survive combat. I am learning new tactics at least, and I'd probably do a lot better if I had the patience to kite centipedes. Around year 3 I reached the point where I wasn't really resource constrained; I could probably finish the ship easily at this point if I tried. I made peace with the tribals earlier this year because I was sick of all the hauling and traders can't afford to buy all of my human meat meals and human leather clothing anyway. I've actual never bought raw steel this game; it's all come from mechanoids, smelting, and low quality statues from exotic goods traders. I got the uranium for my first ship reactor by buying a Good quality uranium weapon from a combat trader at enormous expense... and then another trader came by with an awful uranium weapon, and then a bulk goods trader sold me some, and then even more dropped in cargo pods.
(http://i.imgur.com/MEu6A0sm.jpg) (http://imgur.com/MEu6A0s)
I'm thinking next time (in A17) I'll do this at a lower difficulty. Except for the occasional challenging raid, the huge raid sizes make resources plentiful.
Day 483
Textiles trader. Lots of those lately. We really need bulk goods though. Got to have building materials to make a ship.
Also a wanderer showed up. Just walked up and said she was joining us. Calls herself Loly. She's not good at much, but she can carry a gun, haul and clear so I guess she can stay.
Day 484
First mechanoid raid since the wall. It goes exceptionally well. They funnel into the entrance as planned and get into close range where a combination of EMP grenades, turrets and charge rifles take them out. We suffer no losses, not even turrets.
Day 502
Pirates. If the mechanoids couldn't breach our defenses they have no chance.
Day 505
Pirates with sappers. They must know about the wall. Not the cold, though. Still not worried.
Day 512
Cella proposed to Norman. He said yes. She's going around telling the whole colony. I lock myself in the workshop so I don't stab her. Loly says I should just be happy for them. Calls me a bad person. She's lucky I only decked her.
Day 514
Psychic ship part. We surround it with bombs and blow it up.
Day 522
More pirates. They want to siege us. It's -134C. We just wait.
Day 524
Man named Roach asks for safety from pirates. He can cook so I let him in. Pirates should be no trouble but Roach might freeze.
Roach freezes. So do all the pirates. No new helper but lots of loot.
Day 526
More pirates besiege us. Free steel.
Day 533
Tribals attacked. They actually made it into the walls. No farther. We took prisoners.
After the fight Norman and Cella got married. I didn't go.
Day 534
Patched up the prisoners and released them. If the tribals don't hate us maybe they won't raid us. then we don't have to haul and bury corpses. Worth trying.
Sara's mother Horn asks for protection from pirates. We say yes. She's too slow and gets shot, then kidnapped.
Day 539
Construction begins on the ship. Research not done yet but I want this to be built as soon as possible.
Day 540
Thrumbos show up. Not cold enough to kill them.
Day 543
Mechanoids. We have more turrets than last time they attacked. Shouldn't be a problem.
We lose one turret. Well worth it.
Day 546
More mechanoids. May as well be resource delivery.
Day 548
Added a computer core to the ship. Not switched on yet. Don't want it getting bored.
Day 555
Pirates with sappers arrive. they get in the walls around the turrets but we drive them off anyway. We take more prisoners. Same reason.
Day 557
Pirates in drop pods. Doesn't take much for them to flee.
Day 559
A pirate merchant arrives. They buy all our old guns and clothes and we take all their silver. Good deal. We need to buy things though. We should have enough steel and plasteel for the ship thanks to mechanoids. We might not have enough uranium though. Could have to leave some people behind. I'm not staying here for another ten years just to wait for a trader to have some.
In my game I got pretty lucky with my second colonist. An escaped super-soldier with a passion in Shooting, Melee, Medicine, Construction, and Research.
To balance out this fortune, he was a go-juice addict and halfway through his withdrawal he went on a binge and found some go-juice off the corpse of a pirate. Then he got his right arm shot off by a Scyther that crashed through my roof, which also shot out Engie's right eye.
Day 565
More pirates with sappers. Seems more common since we built the wall.
Day 574
A lot of mechanoids come to kill us. We kill them instead.
Day 576
Research on ship reactor is done. We don't have enough uranium for it. Need a trader.
Day 577
More pirates, more sappers. They won't survive the cold.
Day 586
Toxic fallout. No hauling for a while.
Day 588
Tribals show up. If the fallout doesn't get them the cold will.
Day 595
That's it. Ship is researched. We need at least 270 uranium to make it work. We have 90. 180 to go.
Psychic ship crashes. Mocking us. We blow it up.
Day 598
Woman named Hotaru showed up and said she was joining. She's good at research. That doesn't matter anymore. She's not good at anything else. She can haul things.
Day 602
Wobber suggests we call up tribals and pay them off to not attack us. I let him. We have lots of silver and tribal raids mean lots of useless hauling.
((Author's Note: This challenge is pretty much completed. There's not much that can kill me anymore, I have mountains of steel and plasteel for the ship, and I'm literally just waiting for the right trade ship to come into orbit so that I can buy the uranium I need and go. That could be a couple days, or it could take another ten years. Barring any really cataclysmic events, these journal entries are going to start to get really, really repetitive. I'm pretty much going to start skipping any event that doesn't impact the colony in any meaningful way.))
Drop podding a caravan over to one of the nearby friendly colonies can work too; they're as likely to carry uranium as a bulk goods trader is.
As would drop-podding a couple folks over to a mountain and setting up a temporary mining base.
Drop-podding a caravan sounds like it's worth a shot. I was hoping to complete the challenge without leaving the map, but I really don't want to be stuck here for years and years. In the ten years it's been since the colony began, I've only had two bulk goods traders. :'(
A mining outpost could work too, though it would compound a lot of problems like manpower, food supply and defense. Plus none of my colonists have any real skill or passion for mining, so digging up a mountain could take just as long as waiting for a trader. :P My best bet would probably be to land on a relatively flat non-sea-ice map and rely on deep drilling to get what I need.
I figure Engie (or her replacement) shouldn't leave the map, but sending her minions off on a caravan to an outlander base isn't that far off from trading with an orbital trade ship, so I think it's fair game :)
I only recently came across and tried this challenge, I've played Rimworld for a fair while and almost exclusively wait for and then install bunch of mods.
I have to say....this has been a refreshing change to run the vanilla game and try the challenge.
I've had about 8 runs so far, made it into the second year a couple of times.
My current run Engie had to resort to canabalism to survive and things are not looking good in the sanity department. Engie spends all her time sleeping, staring at the graves of her sister and lover (not the same person !) and occasionly hauling something to the loot piles.
Engie has just entered her second spring on the ice pack and we haven't had contact with a single Bulk Goods trader yet, she is still stuck in a small shack with no materials to start building hydroponics. Damn you Cassandra !
Actually we did miss one bulk goods trader in the middle of winter where there was little solar energy and Engie had to keep toggling the Comms console on/off and the trader showed up while the console was off. (got the "trader left comms range" messsage some time after turning comms console on and forgetting to see if a trader was available).
Love this challenge, it's especially well setup for gradual progression using the base vanilla game.
10/10 Would eat humans again.
Brand new run started tonight. Trying a chance, building a double walled shack to start using most of Engie's starting silver.
Feels like a good idea so far, its negating the "slept in the cold" modifier.
(https://preview.ibb.co/mpuADv/seaice.jpg) (https://ibb.co/nivvfa)
image host (https://imgbb.com/)
Day 639
A bulk goods trader arrived. They don't have uranium. The cargo pods they dropped give me an idea, though.
Day 662
A wanderer named Jumper joined. She can't do much besides cook but we need a cook so she stays.
Day 671
Sara and Norman got plague. Sara dies. Norman lives. No justice.
Day 692
Walked by the corpse pile and saw Wobber. Not even sure when he died. Nobody said anything to me. Odd.
((Author's Note: Judging by the destroyed torso and Bruise (human fist) wounds, I'd say he died due to some berserk rage or social fight I didn't notice. I think it says a lot about the state of the in-game alerts that a colonist can die without the player having any idea when or how. Examining the art on his sarcophagus, which happens to be the scene of his death, indicates he was killed by Loly. If I had to guess, I'd say he went into a berserk rage because of the death of his wife Sara, and Loly accidentally killed him whe she fought back.))
Day 702
How did... when... we have 240 uranium. I didn't buy any uranium. What happened? Not complaining. Nearly there.
Day 726
More uranium showed up. Is it coming from mechanoids? I didn't think they returned any. No matter. We build an engine.
((Author's Note: I really don't know where the uranium is coming from. As far as I know mechanoids don't drop it, and nothing I'm melting down should either. Does it come in ship parts? I've blown up so many of them I forget what's actually supposed to be in there. :P ))
Day 734
Cella was surrounding a psychic ship with IEDs and triggered one accidentally. The whole setup went off. Nothing left to bury. Good riddance.
Now there are only six of us. That means we have enough uranium to build enough cryptosleep pods for all of us. Tempted to leave Norman behind, but letting him live knowing Cella was mere days away from rescue when she died seems more fun.
We stop all other projects. Nothing matters except for leaving this place.
Day 741 - Final Entry
Alright. I've said I don't like writing very much, but Engie would have wanted the last entry in her log to be special. Here goes.
We finished the ship today. As I write this we're loading some silver, food, and a couple of basic supplies into each of our pods. We're each also wearing our best armor and carrying a weapon. We likely won't need it when we wake up, assuming the AI does its job, but life here has a way of making you paranoid and we all agree it's better to be safe.
I wish Engie could have been alive to see this. She's the only reason any of us survived. I have no idea how she managed to carve out a life here. Crashing here with no shelter, barely any supplies or food... I doubt any of us could have done it. But she did. And thanks to her perserverence and her sacrifice, a handful of us have managed to come together and escape this frozen wasteland.
Before we leave, there is one last thing I must do. We buried Engie in a marble sarcophagus outside the very first hut she built. It was supposed to be meaningful, and it was the very best we could do with what we had. But I'm not leaving her here. Not even in death. I open the sarcophagus and there she is. The cold has preserved her well. I have never hauled anything for this colony before, but now I bear the weight of Engie's body as I carry her to the crematorium.
A few hours later and I am ready to board my pod. I am the only one who has not already entered cryptosleep. I dump the weapon I had stored in my pod on the ground. I will not need it. Instead, I gently place an ornate wooden box I carved into its place. Inside lie the ashes of the woman to whom I owe my life.
I read Engie's past entries. I am not made of stone. I read the passage about the very first thrumbos she encountered - the ones who seemingly sacrificed themselves so she could live. I know she wanted to spend the remainder of her life caring for such creatures as a way of repaying her debt. She can no longer fulfill that wish, but she can at least be among them. I will travel to one of the worlds she spoke of and spread her ashes there. It is the very least I can do.
When I am finished writing this entry, I will make a copy of this journal and leave it behind. To whoever finds this, make of our colony what you will. Plunder its riches if you wish; we have no more need for them. Perhaps you will make it your new home. It served as such for us for over ten years, proving to be a bastion of hope and life against all those that would seeek to take everything from us. It can be that for you too, if you wish.
It doesn't matter to us anymore. I activate the AI core and give it its instructions. The engines hum to life as power is routed to them. I climb into my pod and begin the sequence that will allow me to sleep in stasis for centuries, taking one last look at our colony before I close my eyes.
I hope I wake up somewhere warm.
--END TRANSMISSION--
I did it! ;D Here's an imgur album detailing my base, just before takeoff:
http://imgur.com/a/Lik4y
That took way longer and was way harder than I thought it was going to be. Seeing other people completing the challenge made me think that once you got past the cold it wasn't too different from the regular game. Boy was I wrong. Half the game was me trying to prevent everyone from going into a tantrum spiral. Before I realized I needed to disable Hospitality, half the Escape Pod, Wanderer or Refugee events involved someone's relative, who would inevitably die and give one of my colonists a huge mood debuff. And there was SO MUCH HAULING. There are resources from siege camps or cargo pods in the corners of the map that have been there for years, because things keep dropping closer to the colony and my haulers just never get there. I forgot how slow colonists moved through snow and ice. Every raid lasted a couple of hours, but then we'd spend a week hauling corpses and weapons across the ice. Every time mechanoids or a ship attacked we'd lose days of productivity to healing injuries and babysitting infections.
Also, I think I set some kind of record for time spent relying on cannabalism. I had only gotten two bulk goods traders, and I spent that steel making things like my kitchen, beds, the high-tech research bench, and other things I considered more vital. After all, it wasn't like I was going to starve. It took a while to gather enough excess steel just from melting slag and disassembling mechanoids to be able to build and power a hydroponics setup for the whole colony. I think I went about nine or ten years before I was able to reliably produce enough rice meals to feed everyone.
I think the worst part has to be the Zzzt! event, though. Not just because one of them killed Engie, but because it just randomply punishes the player for no reason other than to create difficulty. Once your base is larger than a single room there's no real way to mitigate and plan for it. Just sometime, somewhere, one of your conduits is going to explode and start a fire. That's it, nothing you can do, enjoy your game.
What I did like about this challenge is how natural the difficulty curve felt after you get over the whole colder-than-the-polar-ice-caps-of-Mars thing. You can't dig up resources or grow anything initally, so there's no way to create wealth from nothing like in most colonies. 100% of your wealth is coming from random cargo pod drops or slain enemies. And since you can't get your own building materials you have to actually spend the money you get on vital supplies. Because your economy is gradually growing rather than making leaps and bounds, raids follow the same pattern, often staying the same strength for a while or gradually getting bigger rather than going from 10 men to 30 because you dug up a plasteel vein.
It's much more of a give-and-take economy, whereas in most of my other games I'm making money off of every single trader regardless of how much I buy from them. Interestingly, this feels closest to the way the trade system was probably intended to be used.
Despite annoyances with the random events and the stress of micromanaging moods, this was a fun challenge! I'm looking forawrd to playing a normal game again, though. I'm betting that's going to feel like a cakewalk after this. :P
I'm guessing your randomly appearing uranium was from smelting raider weapons, they sometimes carry shivs, clubs etc. made of exotic material.
Much less likely a cargo drop had uranium and you weren't paying attention when you removed the "forbid" restriction on the dropped materials.
It could very well have been raider weapons; the dumping pile in the workshop was set up incorrectly for a long time (melee and some weapons were enabled, but I forgot to also allow smeltable weapons in general) so once I fixed that a whole lot of weapons started to get melted down at once. If a handful of them happened to be uranium that would explain why I suddenly started getting more in the late game.
Also, it couldn't have been a cargo pod because I was checking every single one religiously in case they contained uranium. :P
Lost count of which run this is, but finally something good happened.
"A chunk of spacecraft has fallen from space and landed nearby"
It damn near landed on my base !
(http://preview.ibb.co/n8oyGF/20170219200001_1.jpg) (http://ibb.co/d8fZqa)
Oh nice, four ship chunks close by is pretty lucky. What's your plan for the steel?
Quote from: CrazyEyes on February 19, 2017, 09:09:52 PM
Oh nice, four ship chunks close by is pretty lucky. What's your plan for the steel?
I went with a turbine....i've had a couple of runs through winter now and solar just doesn't cut it.
If I have to start over again, I'll probably build a turbine up front, and then go for a second turbine.
The other thing I decided as a strategy was to build more batteries where possible to have the energy storage to live through periods of low wind or low solar.
Quote from: CrazyEyes on February 18, 2017, 01:22:17 AM
I think the worst part has to be the Zzzt! event, though. Not just because one of them killed Engie, but because it just randomply punishes the player for no reason other than to create difficulty. Once your base is larger than a single room there's no real way to mitigate and plan for it. Just sometime, somewhere, one of your conduits is going to explode and start a fire. That's it, nothing you can do, enjoy your game.
Actually you can mitigate - or even virtually eliminate - the Zzzt event.
The short circuit goes off only if you have conduit connected to a battery (
Duh!, but it must be said). It
still tries to fire for batteries NOT connected to conduit, but it will fizzle and you'll never even notice. So, say you have two banks of batteries, one bank connected to the grid and the other not connected to any conduit. You'll get about half the short circuits, because sometimes the event will choose the isolated battery. Obviously batteries not connected to the grid can't charge or provide power, sooo.... use a switch. Connect a switch so that no conduit touches any battery. The risk of a zzzt still exists while the switch is on to charge the batteries. But once, charged, turn the switch off and enjoy no more short circuit explosions. Turn the switch on (again at the risk of a short circuit) only when you need backup power.
Update: I have plenty of turbines/battery storage now and 6 hydro tables.
Machining is being researched to allow us to make use of all the sycther corpses.
(http://preview.ibb.co/cmDM3v/20170222072755_1.jpg) (http://ibb.co/hJ1kVa)
But wait...someone wants to take it all away from Engie and Val !
(http://preview.ibb.co/c4yAwF/20170222072812_1.jpg) (http://ibb.co/mpfeqa)
I finally got around to giving this challenge a try. I've made about a dozen attempts so far, improving on each. It took me 2 failures to learn how much time I could spend building my first structure to get a fire going and prevent hypothermia. After that it was learning how far I could go to haul safely with whatever clothing I was able to scavenge based on the outside temperature. Engie died a few times trying to lug vlauable goods back to base.
My best attempt so far was bitter-sweet. 118 days, but it was a near total disaster almost the entire time. My base burned down nearly completely not once but twice. A muffalo parka is all that saved me and gave me time to rebuild, but I lost a ton of resources to the fires. At one point Engie was injured and slowly dying when a medic joined my colony. Bad traits and almost no skills, but a 13 in medicine and, importantly, juuust warm enough clothing to make it to my base. He saved Engie just barely then promptly started wandering aimlessly after stumbling upon my human corpse parking lot. He died of exposure, but Engie survived. A near miss! Later, someone calls for help. Engie is still recovering from injuries from a raid and just cannot afford combat, but it turns out it's Engie's husband calling for help. Whelp...I can't say no, even though I know he probably won't make it to base before dying of cold (it's the middle of winter and ~-200 outside). Sure enough, he dies on the way. I even tried sending Engie over to meet him to give him her parka in hopes both could make it back, but he didn't even have a jacket and died just feet from Engie.
Eventually three mechanoids did too much damage to my base to recover and Engie died from wounds during the battle.
Getting better though!
Quote from: Jimyoda on February 20, 2017, 04:33:51 PM
Actually you can mitigate - or even virtually eliminate - the Zzzt event.
The short circuit goes off only if you have conduit connected to a battery (Duh!, but it must be said). It still tries to fire for batteries NOT connected to conduit, but it will fizzle and you'll never even notice. So, say you have two banks of batteries, one bank connected to the grid and the other not connected to any conduit. You'll get about half the short circuits, because sometimes the event will choose the isolated battery. Obviously batteries not connected to the grid can't charge or provide power, sooo.... use a switch. Connect a switch so that no conduit touches any battery. The risk of a zzzt still exists while the switch is on to charge the batteries. But once, charged, turn the switch off and enjoy no more short circuit explosions. Turn the switch on (again at the risk of a short circuit) only when you need backup power.
That's interesting. I knew batteries not connected to the grid wouldn't trigger a Zzzt! event, but I didn't realize that was because the event
was being created and then rendered inert. Does that mean I could drastically reduce my odds of the event occuring at all by having lots of individual batteries, each seperated from the grid by their own switch?
Quote from: CrazyEyes on February 22, 2017, 03:27:26 PM
Quote from: Jimyoda on February 20, 2017, 04:33:51 PM
Actually you can mitigate - or even virtually eliminate - the Zzzt event.
The short circuit goes off only if you have conduit connected to a battery (Duh!, but it must be said). It still tries to fire for batteries NOT connected to conduit, but it will fizzle and you'll never even notice. So, say you have two banks of batteries, one bank connected to the grid and the other not connected to any conduit. You'll get about half the short circuits, because sometimes the event will choose the isolated battery. Obviously batteries not connected to the grid can't charge or provide power, sooo.... use a switch. Connect a switch so that no conduit touches any battery. The risk of a zzzt still exists while the switch is on to charge the batteries. But once, charged, turn the switch off and enjoy no more short circuit explosions. Turn the switch on (again at the risk of a short circuit) only when you need backup power.
That's interesting. I knew batteries not connected to the grid wouldn't trigger a Zzzt! event, but I didn't realize that was because the event was being created and then rendered inert. Does that mean I could drastically reduce my odds of the event occuring at all by having lots of individual batteries, each seperated from the grid by their own switch?
I haven't verified the info provided by Jimyoda but if correct, you wouldn't need a switch per battery (or even multiple switches). All batteries not connected to the grid would generate benign events regardless of how many sets of batteries you put them in. I usually make 1-2 sets of batteries that I leave full and disconnected from the grid with one battery always connected and I move batteries from the disconnected grids to connect them to power them up rather than flipping on the switch, but the switch is there in case I need a massive backup power supply.
In fact, this strategy works without switches at all. Just move the batteries when you need to connect/disconnect them.
Batteries (and furniture in general) can be moved pretty quickly. Flicking a switch requires a colonist walk over anyways, so why not save yourself the component and just have a bank of batteries that you shuffle back and forth?
I haven't read every post... but after a few miserable starts (stupid pawn kept walking outside to get frostbite, then dying of infection), I finally had a "visitor" who had a decent enough Parka not to freeze in the winter...
I stripped 'em bare, then packed up as much food as I could carry, and went for a hike somewhere *marginally* more hospitable :p. Seemed like a pretty obvious choice :D
The starts are a little luck based.
The middles are a little luck based, too. (read: orbital traders)
If you have a parka strong enough to survive the winter, though, you're all set for the first big difficulty.
In my current playthrough, I named my colony "North Pole" 'cause of how icy and inhospitable it was (yet somehow still important enough to visit).
...Then I looked at the world map. :-[
So, long time lurker, first time poster. I managed to keep Engie alive (and unharmed!) and escape from the ice along with 4 others! I think this was about my 7th or so attempt. Really enjoyed the challenge, probably the most fun I have had playing Rimworld so far.
Brief outline of my run:
- Spent my initial resources getting smelting up and going
- Had an early drop pod of berries that steel-funded Comm Console and kept me going for food
- I managed not to 'utilise' cannibalism for the entire run! I was saving all the corpses just in case...
- Scored a relatively early Bulk Trader (I traded literally everything for steel)
- Got a decent base + power setup out of that
- Researched hydroponics next and scrounged drop pods and weapons to get that going
- Second pawn joined right when Engie's husband dropped from orbit and insta-froze
- He was invaluable nursing Engie through the grief and keeping things going
- Soon after, second pawn's wife attacks colony as a raider
- Engie kills second pawn's wife during the assault
- Second pawn is catatonic with grief and hates Engie
- So, he gets sent off into the snow
- Having saved a few of the Packaged Survival Meals helped for the mood buff here
- Third pawn joins, and colony starts to stabilise a bit, mechs start showing up
- Get machining going and start thinking more about defences
- Have a very close shave with a centipede with an Inferno Cannon
- Engie ended up kiting it halfway across the map
- Inferno shots took out a lot of stuff I was waiting to trade
- Massive rebuild time, decide to invest in fire poppers
- Decide to commit heavily to security build up and potentially delay ship
- Gain 2 more pawns
- Narrowly dodge a doomsday rocket with my pawns but takes out a heap of my stockpile
- Realise I don't quite have enough Uranium and wait for trade ships...
- ... and wait ...
- ... and wait ... (another pawn joins)
- ... and wait ...
- ... and wait ... (probably 3/4 of the entire game time spent)
- Get sick of waiting and decide to drop pod a pawn to look for/mine Uranium on one of the Ice Sheet tiles
- Drop pod the pawn + Uranium back
- Build ship and leave with all 5 colonists
Some thoughts:
I agree with CrazyEyes in regards to the problems with relationships. I didn't play with any mods but even so, Engie's husband and sister both fell from orbit (at different times thankfully) and my other pawn's all had relatives show up at some point. This was by far the most fiddly part of the run.
I also agree with the point about the difficulty curve: while the scenario start of extremely difficult and poised on a knife edge, I didn't feel the difficulty ramping up dramatically at any point. It was more of a steady climb. In some ways it got a bit boring later on waiting for Uranium (hence why I decided to drop pod search for some) but if I had been a bit more savvy (and knowledgeable of the A16 changed ship costs) I would have been able to ensure I had enough Uranium earlier.
There are certain breakpoints in the scenario where the options start to open up. Getting your first decent Tuque and Wool Parka help dramatically. Getting smelting, comms console, nutrient paste, hydroponics and machining where all significant steps for me in the scenario and the goal started changing from immediate survival to slightly longer term planning. Likewise with gaining new pawns; I would mercilessly strip wanderers and escape pod survivors for their gear, but later on I started looking for new recruits.
Anyways, excellent scenario, taught me a lot about the game and thanks to Rhadamant for setting it up :)
Quote from: zaphide on March 05, 2017, 07:40:09 PM
- I managed not to 'utilise' cannibalism for the entire run! I was saving all the corpses just in case...
Wow! That's really quite impressive.
Quote from: Hans Lemurson on March 05, 2017, 08:21:59 PM
Quote from: zaphide on March 05, 2017, 07:40:09 PM
- I managed not to 'utilise' cannibalism for the entire run! I was saving all the corpses just in case...
Wow! That's really quite impressive.
Yeah I didn't really plan out on it but thought I would see how far I could go. I forbade the food a lot and let minor malnutrition start. You can eek the food out a fair bit longer then. I also brought food a couple of times from trade ships and butchered a couple of thrumbo corpses.
I also manually switched on/off the sun lamp to preserve power and had no conduit (only batteries linking my wind turbines to the things that needed power).
QuoteThe challenge is, simply, to survive by any means possible.
Day 7 i took the parka of a wanderer and went to ice sheet south.
Quote from: Wanderer_joins on March 24, 2017, 12:01:27 PM
QuoteThe challenge is, simply, to survive by any means possible.
Day 7 i took the parka of a wanderer and went to ice sheet south.
Thinking outside the box!
Ok, so let's say it's really a frozen sea world, sea ice everywhere.
No one should leave the map. Here is how it has been going so far:
Engie builds her shelter, a com console, rushes hydro and electric smelting, then things get complicated:
Engie's fiancé joins, she builds a double bed because Lovin' is just what they need, he bangs her, have his breakfast, and breakup!
Quote from: Wanderer_joins on March 25, 2017, 05:08:20 AM
Ok, so let's say it's really a frozen sea world, sea ice everywhere.
No one should leave the map. Here is how it has been going so far:
Engie builds her shelter, a com console, rushes hydro and electric smelting, then things get complicated:
Engie's fiancé joins, she builds a double bed because Lovin' is just what they need, he bangs her, have his breakfast, and breakup!
Inopportune relationship changes are the name of the game.
But the whole theme of this challenge is things going south so bad you can't go south no more. Because you're at the South Pole. Check the map. Actually you probably did. Check it again, and then be frustrated that there is no exact tile which is at 90'S and get angry at Tynan for the coordinate system he chose for hex/icosahedral tiling.
But mountains mean virtually unlimited ressources vs waiting for ages to smelt each steel slag chunk.
Back to sea ice, any lover/ relative will dig their grave, naked, as everyone else!
Run 5, 1 year in, i'm not sure the ultra cold thing and the large map add much challenge, most raiders die before being a real threat.
Quote from: Wanderer_joins on March 25, 2017, 06:44:32 PM
Run 5, 1 year in, i'm not sure the ultra cold thing and the large map add much challenge, most raiders die before being a real threat.
There are a few levels of difficulty.
-
Temperature : Once you get enough wool parkas for all your colonists, this is no longer an issue.
-
Steel/Components : Once you have a comms console and a smelter, this is no longer an issue.
-
Food : Once you've got hydroponics and enough steel/components, you'll be able to cook all the simple meals you need. If you get lucky with a Thrumbo, you've got fine meals for a year.
--
After about two years, all the difficulty is gone, and the game is effectively over. Sure, mechanoids can drop in your base, a scyther can get a lucky shot, or 9001 tribals can get a lucky shot, but for the most part, it's just a matter of waiting for ship materials.
Temperature: still an issue for the raiders, play a standard sea ice map, raiders will rush your base
Food: getting enough hydro bassins and power is the challenge, given that raiders can destroy your beatiful walls. Needless to say, early on the most reliable and reproducible way to survive is cannibalism
I'm not saying sea ice is not challenging, it is extremely challenging. I'm just playing a standard rich explorer scenario on a default sea ice map with caravan events/ pod/ caravan forming/ moister pump disabled (and obviously no start with cannibalism/ bloodlust/ psychopath trait).
Heya guys, just wanna say this scenario is awesome. Thanks @Rhadamant for this ;)
I am currently playing vanilla, trying not to do any mods.
So far my biggest trouble are
- Zzzt
- Bulk trade ships not coming in
- That random/rare plague
I read some posts about non-conduits placements, I'm gonna try later. Just died again due to no bulk trade ships coming in.. I refuse to eat human meat lol. Although I did try butchering raiders every 5 days to sell meat/skins.
Furthest I got was 35days in, which i learned how power-hungry sunlamps are.
Somehow I feel I can do this...it get frustrating, especially when we really...really trying very hard to survive. Love this game ;)
QuoteBulk trade ships not coming in
What? you didn't have 2 bulk traders coming within 20 days? ;)
It does?
Shit maybe I should pay more attention.
The micromanagement is brutal lol.
Died again.. lol
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/83721257582438782/9C2E41AA17528C283222048547862FD26BC82043/ (https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/83721257582438782/9C2E41AA17528C283222048547862FD26BC82043/)
It doesn't, but it was Rhadamant opening. All the challenge is in the intial opening, if you kill it with bulk traders there is no fun :)
Challenge completed!
It was the longest game I have ever played.
There is a picture of my colony: http://imgur.com/a/tE6Ez
ugh...on my someodd 30th attempt:
I got smelting up quickly and had like 4 cargo drops in 3 days (food, bricks, cloth + SLAG) and a thrumbo in my pile. Get a couple bruises in a tribal raid but they heal. So things were looking really good at 30 days in.
Then I got plague. I can't heal plague. Escape pod drops at 80% and he's an 8 in medicine, but he so far away. We end up dying in each others arms.
This wasn't the furthest I had gotten, or nearly the most desperate I had been (it was the first time I got plague though) But because it had happened on such a promising run, and was completely unpreventable (no one dropped any plague meds yet) made this much more crushing.
Anyway, on to 31.
I didnt use the save file here but I did set my own up along the same lines. The first bit was tough since I only wanted to recruit cannibals. The one exception of course was a doctor that joined me just in time to treat my plague. Once I was safe I ate him.
almost 15 years later I have this base of cannibals, http://jimmyagent007.deviantart.com/art/Rimworld-Sea-Ice-Challenge-670635217
It was a lot of fun getting there but I think I am at the end of what I can do unless I just want to keep expanding to fill the whole map.
solo vs scyther(raid) is impossible. if there are any tips, please.
I'm starting to see them 20+ days in.
edit: wait... does research increase the chances for higher number of hostiles + mechs?
There are other events which are game ending when you're solo: infection, plague, a bad bleeding, a mental break during a raid...
There is not much to do against an early scyther, you can try to outrange it with a sniper rifle if you're lucky enough, you can try to use your charged rifle covered by walls/sanbags, or try door dancing, but there is still a chance you get killed.
I don't think research is factored in the scale of the threat
Research has no effect on raid threat :P Wealth does, so probably a good idea to use crappy gear xD
Well i did it:
Sea Ice extreme mode, Randy Random and rough level of difficulty. Currently building a ship. 210 days pass.
Story is somehow like that:
Day 1: I landed on deserted. Its freaking cold here. I have to build some shelter, get some power and heater asap.
Day 2: I've counted my food supplies. I have 10 days to go. I build trade becon and communication station and research table. I will dedicate myself to science .
Day 5: Still no caravans or anything... had i expected there is nothing here !
Day 6: Right someone tried to attack me, i killed him, striped and make him a nice grave outside, who knows maybe i will have to eat him later.
Day 7: Another attack - more black hour food. Okey i finish my researches, now i know how i can plant some food in this ice hell, yet i dont have supplies for that....
Day 10: Finally a bulk trade Caravan ! They had everything i had. Food, Steal, Wood.
Day 11: Finally i start to planting some rice for me, the sun lamp consumes tons of energy, constructed additional wind turbine and few batters
Day 12: From now on my days will looks like that: Planting, Cutting, Research, gathering scrap metals. Im working on technology to melt those into steel.
Day 15: Someone tried to join my colony, sorry bro i dont have food for you. Killed him striped and buried his body. I have 6 graves in 'garden already'
Day: 16: I build machine to refining scrap metal, it consumes alot of energy. I have to build another wind turbine to be able to handle this.
Day 19: After 3 days of switching off/on sun lamp i can finally build another wind turbine
Day 23: Another guy had joined - same story. 11 Graves already
Day 25: Im ruining out of food, i used my becon to request a bulk trade caravan. Buying some steel, food and wood. I will build more
Day: 40: Continuing my research - i dont know if i stay any day longer because of some powers problem in last days i lost all my food.
Day 41: Well... i used some ...guests from my collection in garden.... i dont know if i will be able to do it again but i guess i will have to
Day: 44: No troubles so far, finally i have enough rice to stop using my black hour supplies
Day 60: My Rice plant is ruining smoothly i have some extra food now. I also was able to get some extra resources from Cargo Drops
Day 80: I start to have alot of job, planting, cutting, melting, researching. I have some extra food and im starting to feel somehow lonely
Day 100: I let Daniel stay in my colony - he will be useful....for now.
Day 120: Nothing special, some raids, some cargo pots - i think i finally start to see chance to survive this. PS. Daniel is quite nice.
Day 130: Whoah what a nice cargo drop, also a bulk trade caravan, we get some steel and wood and some silver in case we wll have to call another caravana
Day 180: Okey here what we have, 6 rice plant, 4 wind generator and one solar, Hi-Tech lab, oh and me and Daniel have a bedroom - and we get married !
Day 190: Another guy want to join our colony...after digging already 42 graves im done, i let this guy stay here.
Day 191: Turns out it was a good choice, he had a great idea, he and daniel went as trade caravana to other colony - 9 days of travel in total - lets hope it was a good choice
Day 200: They come back with a lot of silver. Also meanwhile i had a great idea, i build small prison and capture one of raiders - guess what, i sold him. We are rich now.
Day 201: We build multi-analyzer.
Day 210: new guy ... how he was ? Black ? have his own bedroom, raids get much more frequent. I think we will build defense system.
PS ( Almost entire research tree done )
Screenshot: http://i63.tinypic.com/2gwf7s1.png
Quote from: Ganga on April 02, 2017, 08:55:20 AM...
Day 25: Im ruining out of food, i used my becon to request a bulk trade caravan. Buying some steel, food and wood. I will build more
How did you request a
caravan?! Did the summer temperatures rise enough so that Muffalos can survive at the south pole?
Quote from: Hans Lemurson on April 02, 2017, 02:26:20 PM
Quote from: Ganga on April 02, 2017, 08:55:20 AM...
Day 25: Im ruining out of food, i used my becon to request a bulk trade caravan. Buying some steel, food and wood. I will build more
How did you request a caravan?! Did the summer temperatures rise enough so that Muffalos can survive at the south pole?
I'm curious about that too.
I will say that Randy is much more forgiving than Casandra. I'm 80 days in on my first Randy Extreme attempt. Probably because all the random cargo drops are much more desirable than the raids cassandra throws at you. I've also noticed a higher frequency of trade ships
Play new tribe to disable the comm console for a while
prolly not cold enough if a trading caravan goes through =)
you should try the map included.. cold snap and can hit as low as -140c
You can disable the "trade caravan arrival" event in the scenario editor.
Quote from: charliesusername on April 02, 2017, 11:37:55 PM
Quote from: Hans Lemurson on April 02, 2017, 02:26:20 PM
Quote from: Ganga on April 02, 2017, 08:55:20 AM...
Day 25: Im ruining out of food, i used my becon to request a bulk trade caravan. Buying some steel, food and wood. I will build more
How did you request a caravan?! Did the summer temperatures rise enough so that Muffalos can survive at the south pole?
I'm curious about that too.
I will say that Randy is much more forgiving than Casandra. I'm 80 days in on my first Randy Extreme attempt. Probably because all the random cargo drops are much more desirable than the raids cassandra throws at you. I've also noticed a higher frequency of trade ships
When i was deployed there was 'summer' -25 during day and -45 during night. Then after summer end i could not request caravans. But yeah cargo drops was very helpful there. Without this or trade ships i would die tons of time.
I totally forgot to post this here, I figured the challenge author would be interested to see how (badly) I did!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybQdhSwI0X4&list=PLySWle9ZKHFjFmGpFB-FKja1j9PLocXXR&index=1
I'm no longer sure how many attempts finishing this took. So many random deaths, so many promising starts, so much RNG. And lets not even mention raw canibalism.
Well, Engie is long since dead, her reliable presence was much missed, as were the other 18 colonists who died (many naked standing by their own grave whilst the hypothermia set in).
Lets not mention the time the colony was reduced to a single peg legged pawn called Feeb - who can't cook and can barely shoot, who sat alone on the ice eating the dwindling food stocks for days hoping a wanderer would pass by before the next raid.
41 raids, 45 threats, 330 days in total and Feeb and Michael escape, their long wait for the final few things needed to finish the cryo pods ended by the last two doctors (Zeke and Harley) succumbing to plague.
Amazing challenge, have been working it for about 3 weeks and have learnt masses about all the little details that normally dont matter. Thanks to Rhadamant for setting it.
Hi Rhadamant,
I loved this Challenge, started it several times when I felt to.
Never escaped, but had soo much fun with it.
I tried to make a similar Scenario in A17, but I never got near it till now.
Is there any Chance you provide a "Sea Ice Community Challenge" Save Game for A17?
Best regards
DiEiho
What do people feel about using dev mode to move work benches that cant otherwise be moved without having to rebuild? I also do that for walls I build in the wrong place on occasion.
Pb with A17 would be the lower frequency of cargo pods.
Quote from: Wanderer_joins on May 30, 2017, 05:33:22 PM
Pb with A17 would be the lower frequency of cargo pods.
That would make it more fun. Please I need a A17 version.
I also would like to have a A17 version.
I'm going to give it a try and may post a save here.
Edit: tried a run on an equatorial sea ice, had 1 cargo over the first year, ship chunks x10 (4 at start, then 3*2), 1 siege which is a decent amount of steel + steel slag chunks and weapons from raiders. so it seems doable, the main difficulty will still be surviving raids
Can some one post a starting save for A17. starting at a pole no pet and always with a cold snap like the the person from the A16 save.
Or give suggestions on how I can set this up.
Here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6dSLBKi2lncbW43OG1vMko2cFk
Starting at the pole, in winter, permanent cold snap and volcanic winter. Starting colonist as same traits as Engie, can shoot, build, research.
Standard size map.
Thanks Wanderer_joins but your setting seem a little too hard for me while it is just about possable to get started:
http://imgur.com/a/jPePn
Starting in the winter and the volcanic winter was a little to much for me. Also I think you ban a few techs that I was thinking of using later in the game.
If any one wants to set this up on A17 heres how:
You need 2 mods:
Mod1: EdB Prepare Carefully
Mod2: permanent Cold Snap and Head Wave
Start a new Colony and select rich expolor
click Scenario Editor
remove starting with anaimal(s)
Add part: permanent game condition -> Cold Snap
Cassandra Extreme
seed: bitter
size: 100%
rainfall: low
temp: low
Settle here:
http://imgur.com/a/l4iaS
On the character Create Screen click Prepare Carefully (one of the mods)
Use these settings:
http://imgur.com/a/gj5Oy
The colder, the easier i would say. Whereas you can manage temperature, raiders will freeze to death.
With pods allowed and an ice sheet tile at 4 days, I included another condition then: don't leave the original map for your main colony, and the ship has to be built on the original map. A strong incentive is to generate the starting map at the size you like best (i did default 250*250), and then set the default map size at something small, 125*125, making it possible to settle new tiles, but harder to defend on the long term.
save based on your scenario: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6dSLBKi2lncX1JpTVMzaWctYTQ
I was after a save as close to Rhadamant's a possable but maybe volcanic winter could be fun as I dont thing problem was volcanic winter but rather it started in winter as well. It was hard to make a 3x3 room with fire with out dieing to the cold and It was impossable to get the any of the drop pods that droped for me because they where out of the range I could run to and back with out dieing. I always planed on having my main base where I started. But I was thinking of sending one guy to mine somewhere. But the only thing he would make would be a warm room and a return pod launcher. Or maybe a chain of pod launchers to the other end condition.
Quote from: tnarg on June 28, 2017, 05:47:24 PM
Thanks Wanderer_joins but your setting seem a little too hard for me while it is just about possable to get started:
A17 changed something to make it more difficult. You need to finish building the walls, whereas in A16, you could simply drop the blueprints and start heating it up.
i did the walls in A16. Took a few restarts sometimes....i'd usually restart until i got it built with no failed constructions and at least a "normal" silver bed
First try on the "bitter" seed. Was lucky when i accepted a chased refugee, had a raid before the chasers appeared on the map, then they fought each other and i finished the wounded. Anyway, died day 26, mental state at -100°C...
But i had like 5 resource pods whereas in previous run had one in 1 year. That's a lot of RNG variability for something vital on sea ice.
Quote from: mumblemumble on December 30, 2016, 10:31:14 AM
You wacky rimworld challenge guys.
Here I struggle with a too far north tundra, and you guys are surviving on sea ice.
I hope tynan makes an active volcano biome, just so I could see you glorious, suicidal bastards (I mean that in an endearing way) give it a shot.
Seriously, even if I can't do this to save my life, seeing you guys try makes my day.
Plus one on Volcano biome. Shape an island like Japan, and don't forget tsunami, kafunsho and typhoons too.
I have also tried this and its working really fine.
sorry for necro but do you guys have an idea what i should do here (pic related)
i already got a refugee, made her personally fight off the raiders aswell as tanking all the damage, then made her work her ass off with hauling all kinds of items from all over the map (lotsa ship parts and drop pods) and eventually freezing to death without getting handed a single meal. ofc i stripped her right before her lone death in the snow. i know this just made me hitler, but i kinda would want to repeat that with this new refugee but it seems like he is my 17 year old father so if i lose him i will be severely depressed for months to come and i am already constantly on critical alert.
can i just say no to my dad without getting a debuff (but also no weapons, armor, clothing, free dog food and random items either)
EDIT: nm, i just declined him, heard screams over the radio and no problem
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