I had to split the thread because Pt. 1 (https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=7056) hit the maximum character count.
3) Combat
- Basic Combat AI
- Please make it so that if all of my colonists are standing next to each other, the colonists in the rear won't shoot their allies in the back during a firefight. I can't even stop them from doing it unless I move them. General touch-ups to AI in regard to bullets and combat in general would be lovely, especially in regard to pathing, as I constantly have colonists walk right in from of someone with a minigun who is hunting a turtle, then I have to load an autosave.
- Combat Formations
- I would love to see built-in combat formations. Trying to set up my colonists during a siege is a total nightmare and I usually have to break them up into smaller, more strategic parties. Perhaps some basic combat formations, like a line, a half-moon, AI automatic cover - where they find cover within a certain radius, and / or similar formations with a varying degree of proximity / spacing (Right click & drag to set the direction desired? i.e., right click, drag up for a horizontal, upward-facing formation, drag left for a vertical, left-facing formation)
- Squad Management
- Combat can get difficult to organize when I have to draft all of my colonists, especially since one of my colonists is a nudist, so I always leave him at the base. Having a "Combat" tab, say in "Overview" to be able to set squads of specific colonists with specific weapons and / or armor requirements, would give combat a much-needed update. Then when I draft everyone, perhaps through a "Draft All" button, they automatically join their assigned squad and prepare for combat. Then I can move each squad strategically as one group.
- Combat Meals
- Allow me to make my colonists carry their own meal into battle, whether through some build-able station that prepares them for battle or a simple command function. I never know how long I'l have to take to deal with a siege or fallen ship part, so I often have to deal with mental break-downs in the middle of combat - often because they don't eat prior or are hungry when I have to do deal with raiders.
- Emergency Sandbags
- Emergency sandbags would be great, perhaps through different types of drafting? Draft people into combat, but also draft builders into "combat mode," where I can command them to build sandbags for a quick'n'dirty quarrel. Either that or simply allow my drafted colonists to carry metal into battle so that they can quickly build sandbags outside of a siege encampment.
4) Options / Design
- Storyteller-specific Gameplay Components
- I think the storyteller mode of RimWorld should affect more than just the events encountered by your colony, each storyteller should have their own functions that make playing in each style intrinsically-rewarding in its own way. This would like follow a progressive growth in difficulty as one goes from Phoebe to Randy - and would still use the internal challenge settings for each storyteller - but I'd like to see some aspects that are exclusive to each storyteller. i.e., using someone else's suggestion of Fog of War: Phoebe = No Fog of War, Cassandra = Research of Radar to Turn off Fog of War, and Randy = Less Capable Radar, etc. I'm not sure how I'd feel about Fog of War in general, but that's just an example of the idea that each storyteller should have their own components (including special events?) to make gameplay more interesting and valuable, so that the player truly wants to try out each storyteller for an almost entirely different style of game each time, beyond the difference of event management.
- Customizable Controls (incl. Clicking)
- Please oh please let me set my own controls, as my laptop only has a crappy touchpad, so right clicking is a huge bother. Being able to set "Right Click" or "Click Menu" to "Cntrl + Click" or "Alt + Click" would be great for RimWorld on my Chromebook.
- Organized & Linked AutoSaves
- I'd love to see the AutoSave functionality combined with each individual save, like a toggle-able drop-down list connected to each main save that allows you to load its specific AutoSaves.
- Dis / Allow All on Stockpiles
- Having a setting that is able to have new stockpiles or items set to disallow all on default or a button on stockpiles, etc., to toggle "Disallow All" and "Allow All" would save me a lot of time when organizing my items.
5) Misc.
- Quality Modifiers
- I think it'd be both realistic and interesting to add quality modifiers to Cassandra Classic and Randy Random, meaning that every single thing done is given a quality predicated on the relevant level of the colonist and a correlative percentage roll - like how bandaging works. These qualities would then affect the overall statistics of the item. i.e., Poor Wood Wall = 100 Health, Good Wood Wall = 250 Health, Great Wood Wall = 500 Health; Poor Simple Meal = 5 Nourishment, Good Simple Meal = 10 Nourishment, Great Simple Meal = 15 Nourishment (Based both on Cooking and quality of ingredients, based on Growing); Poor Improvised Turret = Longer Cooldown, Lower Range, Good Improvised Turret = Shorter Cooldown, Longer Range, Great Improvised Turret = Shortest Cooldown, Longest Range; Poor Solar Panel = Minimum Power Creation Efficiency, Good Solar Panel = Medium Power Creation Efficiency, Great Solar Panel = Maximum Power Creation Efficiency; etc. I could see this being applied to weapon crafting as well, should that be added in the future. However, for stationary structures, the ability to "upgrade," "enhance," or "improve" it without entirely replacing it; although requiring a certain relevant job level to go from Poor -> Good, etc. (also with a percentage chance depending on the level?) would be necessary, especially if the entire process used a bit of the structure's material(s) to attempt the upgrade. Perhaps this would all be an addition for later on in development, though, as I could see it taking a lot of time to develop, test, and implement.
- Graphic Packs (incl. Original)
- When a GFX Artist is paid and a new look is given to RimWorld, I'd love to see the ability for Texture / Graphic Packs to be implemented and the Prisoner Architect look to be kept up throughout development. I think it'd be a great facet of nostalgia for alpha and beta players to be able to return to the current design. Personally, the Prison Architect style has really grown on me - not to say I won't like to new design - but having the ability to play original "old-school" style would be a really fun option in the future.
- Ludeon Launcher Version List
- Once the Ludeon Launcher is released (and perhaps you've already done this) I'd like to be able to access all previous versions of RimWorld. This is something that Minecraft implemented for their launcher and I'm real keen on the idea. Being able to go back and play older versions could be fun both for nostalgia and curiosity-sake. Seeing as I just purchased RimWorld for 7c, I don't have access to any of the previous version and have thus never played some of the rougher concepts, which is something I'm hoping that I can one day do. Some players may also prefer older versions over newer ones, like how I can't play Minecraft Beta or beyond, since only Alpha tickles my fancy.
- Steam Workshop Support
- I'm almost positive this is already within the plans, but once RimWorld is on Steam, workshop support would be awesome for mods. It'd be much easier than messing with the forums or ModDB and would work naturally with Steam. Obviously way down the line.
Changelog
- 10/26/14 - Suggestion thread split due to maximum character count.
Thanks!