Regardless of whether it's something like a silver-backed Thrumbo or a pirate in a tank or mech suit, should Rimworld have them?
Currently, the game's pretty grounded. Shooting a human in the brain will kill them, just like in real life. This doesn't exactly mesh well with the typical video game response to making bossfights (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6ig2bcscSM). Even Thrumbos and Centipedes take the same amount of bullets you'd expect to kill an ancient space-beast, and a bus, respectively.
So, would a boss(es) fit in the game? Currently, the game is centered around the idea that human lives are precious, but easily disposed of. The boss would have to be carefully balanced so that it would pose a real threat, but not completely wipe colonies more focused on agriculture than deadly armaments. Most bosses directly impair progress through the game, but Rimworld doesn't have that. You could build a spaceship as long as you just researched it, and you wouldn't need anything more than a research bench, multi-analyzer, and enough power for a component bench to make some advanced components. If you could do all of that wearing rat skins and using wooden spears, then a boss wouldn't be needed. The most powerful weapons in the game can already be acquired via killing raiders before they use them or by destroying an outpost, and those are already powerful enough that anything that would be better and worth the effort would most certainly be overpowered. Need resources? You can just trade enough joints and hats to buy all of the plasteel and uranium you could possibly need. So. . . what would justify them?
It might be optional side of the game. Instead of defending go and hunt those bastards somewhere in the wild. Special creatures, special enemy outpost, special enemy homebase to destroy going trough layers of their defense instead of them rushing on your defense positions you had comfy time to build.
such stuff 8)
Ohhh some mod's allready added some bosses, but they didn't made it to the latest release.
But at last 1-2 made it into the Hardcore-SK modpack and still alive there, maybe you should play it, and encounter Zeon.
Urgs... I don't think something like an end boss does fit the game. Neither as an animal or a boss raider/mechanoid.
Otherwise it woulde cool if a Leader wouldn't only join a casual raid, but come with his/her own brigade of elite soldiers, having very good equipment and fighting skills.
Would be also an interesting world event type, like " Enemy leader set up camp in the wild. he and his entourage will stay there for a while until they leave."
I don't know how I feel about bosses per se, but it would be neat if there were special challenges that varied in some way to be distinct (and perhaps more challenging) from run of the mill events.
Maybe have these tied to certain events / player actions, so they happen as a result of something rather than being a part of the standard fare rng.
It'd be nice to see stronger units for each faction for the late game. That way the storyteller doesn't have to keep tossing in MORE garbage enemies at you to simulate an increase in challenge over time.
A single mechanoid capable of destroying an established colony is along the lines of an endgame boss for this game. Not necessarily what I'm suggesting, but similar.
Quote from: gipothegip on February 16, 2018, 04:36:36 AM
Maybe have these tied to certain events / player actions, so they happen as a result of something rather than being a part of the standard fare rng.
during caravan...You stumbled over a big red button. You feel like you really want to push it. Nothing will happen, right? Push that friendly button. This button seems trustworthy!
Quote from: Bolgfred on February 16, 2018, 05:13:47 AM
Quote from: gipothegip on February 16, 2018, 04:36:36 AM
Maybe have these tied to certain events / player actions, so they happen as a result of something rather than being a part of the standard fare rng.
during caravan...
You stumbled over a big red button. You feel like you really want to push it. Nothing will happen, right? Push that friendly button. This button seems trustworthy!
lol, that sounds like an event from Death Road to Canada.
Bosses, per se, do not have to be huge HP sponges with lots of weapons. Many RPGs use normal enemies encountered later in the game as minibosses for the early bits.
A fairly easy and straightforward way to implement "boss" type enemies could be Tribal animal handlers, complete with their own retinue of dangerous beasties that guard them while they attack.
Or how about a Pirate leader with a few personal hacked Scythers for protection?
Elite task force squads of well geared foes was already suggested above as well.
I would be afraid and happy to see and fight an Insectoid Queen or a Giant Mechanoid with the strength of Four Centipedes or something like that.
Maybe in quests where a Hive Insectoid Queen might be guarding Treasures containing Super-weapons like the Satellite beam or orbital artillery and tons of silver and lots and lots of loot!
I don't know how it would be implemented though...
Oh God, imagine fighting a archeotech AI, with powers beyond our mental grasp! Now I'm not thinking oh turning RW into a RPG, but bosses would make the game much cooler! Think about:
A Centipede turned war machine by a Chief, think about those things that they put on elephants, now put that on a sentient bus with an inferno cannon!
A crazy cat lady who awakes angry hordes of cat from cryptosleep caskets! Make that bionic cats (that would need ADS though)
A thrumbo pulled chariot, that needs no explanation.
In mods? Certainly. In the "vanilla" game? Most certainly not.
I'd really like bosses added to vanilla as extra worldmap quests. "Our ally is asking us to slay the AI Mech Dragon at these coordinates"
That could let the bosses be much much harder than normals mobs, without needing to massively upgrade base defenses for them, since they can only be fought by traveling to them.
This is a pretty cool idea, some rare strong enemies that show up with raids occasionally would be pretty neat.
As tribal start, isn't any centipede attack like a boss fight ? :-)
Sure if you know how to handle it, it isn't that worse anymore like in RPG's with a good group.
Quote from: Canute on February 17, 2018, 02:57:45 AM
As tribal start, isn't any centipede attack like a boss fight ? :-)
Sure if you know how to handle it, it isn't that worse anymore like in RPG's with a good group.
Well, true to a degree, but you wouldn't add a bear to the list of bosses in Skyrim, would you? It doesn't take too much progress for you to be able to just shout them off the sides of mountains. Centipedes are more of a
Level 40 enemy, while you're a
Level 5 Tribe. A couple snipers (and a rocket launcher, if you're feeling grand) can equalize that pretty quick.
I think that boss fights shouldn't be a thing, the enemies should use the same kind of tech you have access to. So if a megatank appears, I want one too!
I think the word "Boss" is being seen as a means to an end in terms of gameplay. I think it should be seen more as OPTIONAL BOSS BATTLES that has no major impact on the end game. Boss fights I would love to see are:
1. Faction Bosses (Can colonize a new base, loot and/or cripple a faction upon completion. Difficulty is 10 out of 10 with numbers being HIGH for the enemy)
2. Slaver Boss (Can accept a new colonist upon completion. This would rate 8 out 10 in difficulty)
3. Tribal Boss (Random weapons and Loot upon completion. This would rate 5 out of 10 in difficulty)
4. A variety of Alien Bosses (New Technology tree opened (RARE) or weapons upon completion. Also, only ONE alien boss battle per playthrough. This would rate 10 out of 10 in difficulty.)
These should all be OPTIONAL battles, AVOIDABLE and NOT game breaking. There would be no unique special weapons on their side or to claim for yourself, which makes it fair for both sides. This will further improve the game's uniqueness in general IMO.
I think insects should be relaunched as a boss. It always annoyed me that a whole hive and wolf sized insects could spawn on the dining table everyone uses twice a day unnoticed. Instead, an insect queen should spawn at the map edge and lay\build them.
Like a siege event. The queen spawns at the edge and moves to a nearby spot. Then spawns workers that build hives and walls for a nest. At higher wealth she can spawn with guards.
Rim World has been good to this day. However, the pattern of enemies is so simple in the battle of enemy base and world map. charge! Only that. Many games add boss-like monsters to avoid such simplicity. If there is a better way, the boss is not necessary, but if there are no other good ideas, the boss can be the next best thing.
While I really like the idea of bosses, please never add humanoid bullet sponges. That would be terrible.
I think it was discussed already in the toranns Magic mod thread, where many people wanted bossfights cause the mod is so OP eventually, that you have nothing to kill with a challenge. If bosses would drop valuable rewards what they "hold" then I think RimWorld would take a huge step forward (to becoming neverwinter lol). Occasional bossfights - I mean boss versions of mechanoids would be cool, and the frequency and strength of bosses grow the further you progress in game like in normal Cassandra.
Quote from: Kori on February 22, 2018, 11:14:53 AM
While I really like the idea of bosses, please never add humanoid bullet sponges. That would be terrible.
Exactly my point in the original post (have you tried clicking it?). I always pictured some big beastie or tough machine, seems like it would be a good alternative to "swarm of weaker things".
At the same time, ever play with the Logann mod? Basically, they're Wolverine (the animal and superhero) people. This includes a healing factor that has five strengths. It's an interesting challenge for some of them. Level 1 is can get-by without needing treatment for bruises or small scratches, and can probably heal them overnight. Level 3 can recover from some pretty serious injuries, able to justify running at a smaller/weaker firing squad with something painful at the end of a stick. Then, there's the Level X. You probably aren't going to kill a Level X Logann. What you're going to do is hope you can remove enough limbs and cause enough pain to keep him down while you kill-off the rest of his pals and he runs-off. Unless you dismember one, they
will get up and keep fighting. Randy have mercy if he's taking anything.
That being said, the lore does mention a special breed of human made for war, and we do have a slew of drugs. Maybe the more lore-friendly answer over Logann of a super soldier would be fun. Less of shooting him through the neck, and just praying you can bleed him of enough go-juice, luciferium, and healing serum that he doesn't get-up again.
I only started playing Rimworld so I don't know everything about this game, but one thing I was thinking is that 'bosses' do not have to be outright aggressive but could be like a form of an event where you have more interaction.
No idea how well this would work but imagine if there was a creature that 'ate' electricity. Strong enough defenses can prevent it from doing so but it it was able to reach a power conduit it would tap in, disabling all devices attached the the power conduit and even draining connected batteries (so kind of like an isolated solar flare event). This would give some possibilities on how to deal with it. You can try to kill it where it would go on a rampage threatening your base and pawns. If you let it feed it will eventually get full and leave on its own and if you are worried about this creature you can make some redundant systems so that important systems won't get compromised. If you really wanted to you could create a decoy, a system that generates power but doesn't actually power anything.
Another boss like event could be a mechanoid scout drone that either enters your map or is located on the globe. If you leave it alone, you could likely expect a mechanoid raid of around what would normally be generated. If you attack it and it escapes, the raid will be stronger than normally generated. If you destroy it, no additional mechanoid raid will be generated other than what is normally created by the storyteller (let's assume that they don't care if a drone goes offline without reporting anything).
Again, I don't know how well these ideas would actually work, but I think 'bosses' can work in this game but not in the sense of simply a very strong enemy. Unless you hunt after on the world map like some people suggested, there should be ways to avoid fighting it but it should cost something while taking the risk to kill it should be dangerous but come with a reward.
Quote from: Soultwister on February 23, 2018, 08:41:29 PM
. . .
No idea how well this would work but imagine if there was a creature that 'ate' electricity. Strong enough defenses can prevent it from doing so but it it was able to reach a power conduit it would tap in, disabling all devices attached the the power conduit and even draining connected batteries (so kind of like an isolated solar flare event). This would give some possibilities on how to deal with it. You can try to kill it where it would go on a rampage threatening your base and pawns. If you let it feed it will eventually get full and leave on its own and if you are worried about this creature you can make some redundant systems so that important systems won't get compromised. If you really wanted to you could create a decoy, a system that generates power but doesn't actually power anything.
Another boss like event could be a mechanoid scout drone that either enters your map or is located on the globe. If you leave it alone, you could likely expect a mechanoid raid of around what would normally be generated. If you attack it and it escapes, the raid will be stronger than normally generated. If you destroy it, no additional mechanoid raid will be generated other than what is normally created by the storyteller (let's assume that they don't care if a drone goes offline without reporting anything).
. . .
Those are actually really neat ideas. I'd love to see them in the game! I put this in the General Discussion section to start a conversation, but you should legitimately brainstorm those for a bit and put it in Suggestions. You've got solid ideas, and some actually really clever ideas on how to deal with them (ignoring the drone, attacking and failing, preventing a raid, and the decoys for the electricity eaters), I don't even care if they're borrowed from other sources.