Messages

A lot of these are good options, although I'd prefer to go with improving the faction system as the long-term goal. 

Advanced start would be a good one to take care of off the bat, though.

(Tynan, If you're tinkering around with including more pieces of the lore, you can always explore the wonderful world of genetically modified organisms.)

The weather adjustments look interesting, and will probably pave the road to seasonal variation.  We're already looking at loose support for migration (animals will leave the map if the temperature is unsuitable.)

With the solar flares, it's going to be very easy for our colonists to end up enjoying "Long Dark:  The Experience" in colonies reliant on electric heating.

I sense that devilstrand toques will become a popular accessory in the not too distant future.  "Knitted fiber headgear developed by a nation with chilly winters in times of yore.  It keeps your head warm, eh."  (Sorry, Tynan.)

The best strategy seems to be limiting the number of hunters in addition to not hunting in high-traffic areas.  An AI that's a little more friendly fire savvy would be nice, though.

Yes, I'm replying to your question.  You can use my summary as long as you provide attribution.

Seventy-Seven:  Sure.  I don't mind.

Wex:  Or at least the general concept of having GELFs running around.  On the other hand, it's probably a low-priority feature.

I think the gnolls would be a good test concept for transcritters in general, although we should try to find a way to fit them into the setting in an organic manner.  While somewhat human, the transcritters still have differing mindsets than Baseline Bob.


"Gnolls" (trans-hyenas) are leftovers of vanity projects from glitterworld nerd "Mad Overlords" who wanted to fill their proving grounds with suitable monsters.  Unsatisfied by biomimic mechanoids, they turned to advanced genetic engineering methods to produce dungeon denizens.  The gnolls were a relative success, with the template seeing use beyond the glorified game board.  Crime syndicates used them as imposing enforcers.  Mercenary companies equipped them with machineguns.  They were even used for [CENSORED] and were apparently quite popular as such.

Inevitably there were issues with the enslavement of sophonts in some polities, and in others, former overlords grew tired of their underground domains of mystery, syndicates split, and merc company soldiers mutinied.  It was often decided to dump these and other surplus genetically engineered creatures on other, less sophisticated planets where they would be someone else's problem.  Many a pest guard can spin the woeful tale of their first encounter with a gnoll warband.

Of note is their highly competitive matriarchal society, emphasis on dominance relationships, and relative lack of pair-bonding between adults.  These characteristics are toned-down somewhat compared to their their non-uplifted brethren.

In-Game:
Gnolls are often found as neolithic tribals or middle age pre-industrial societies, but turn up as a small minority among more modern outlander towns and pirate, terrorist, or mercenary bands.  A handful may even be colonists or space refugees, attempting to start new lives unburdened by their past--or were shoved into a drop pod by rivals and left to die.

On average, they aren't as smart as baseline or nearbaseline humans, but are noticeably tougher.  Their mental break thresholds are somewhat worse, as they may revert to their original imprinting.  An unarmed colonist is not going to do well in the ensuing fistfight...

The glitch that allows the wearing of dusters over power armor is rather amusing.  You just have to swap the armor vest for power armor while wearing a duster...and you can mimic the Trenchcoats of Incongruity scene from early in Schlock Mercenary's run.

The daily changelog is actually a good way of displaying progress without having to meet arbitrary deadlines.  Once you look at it for a while, you can sniff out major updates about a week or so in advance.

The ability to do local relocation (on the same planet) might be viable. 

Escape from your lousy neighbors!  Find better weather and fewer mechanoids!  See interesting new wildlife!  Go on a trip with your friends!  Repeat your traumatic initial planetfall!

If we really want to get into it, we could break thermal power systems down into components and have thermodynamics play a part.  Deserts are great for PV, but heat engines (if you went with solar thermal) will suffer possible performance penalties.  (Not to mention the perils and pitfalls of different cycles...)

Wind generators would be a reasonable idea.  The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_axis_wind_turbine might be a good choice because its animation would be less complex.

Sorry for overwhelming you there.  You probably could shrink most of the systems down into a single module (and hoppers) with quality dictated by research, aside from the solar concentrators.

In order of priority:
4. and 5. Closely linked, you could lump the two together to some extent as they share elements.
1.  This also allows for Fun With Thermodynamics.
2.  If there's one thing that brings a colony to its knees, it's logistics
7.  One word:  Pillboxes
3.  It probably provides a social interaction boost for colonists too.  Better Morale Through Education...at least for folks who are passionate about what they're learning.
6.  Eh, when you get around to it.

Wankel is just a variant of the Otto cycle when you get down to it.  There are a lot of engineering hurdles that make other options more effective (although it's not bad at being a compact constant-speed power generator) for a given manufacturing ability.

Solid Fuel would be fed into the combustion system from hoppers or conveyors.  Possibly piping or tanks for liquid and gaseous fuels could be an option, but I fear that it would add too much complexity.

Biomass - can be burned directly for Stirling/Rankine (wood), or gasified for internal combustion engines (wood), or methane (raw food) can be produced in a digester.

External combustion engines would be three-module (burner/engine/generator) devices, internal combustion engines would be two-module (engine/generator) devices.

Example System:  "Colony's First Steam Engine"
Crude Furnace (80% fuel-to-thermal efficiency)
Crude Steam Engine (20% thermal-to-mechanical efficiency)
Commutator Dynamo (80% mechanical-to-electrical efficiency)
12.8% overall efficiency

Example System #2:  "Squirrely Steamer"
Improved Furnace (90% fuel-to-thermal efficiency)
Steam Engine (Rankine) (30% thermal-to-mechanical efficiency)
Alternator (90% mechanical-to-electrical efficiency)
24.3% overall efficiency

Example System #3:  "Tom Turbine"
Advanced Furnace (97% fuel-to-thermal efficiency)
Steam Turbine (Rankine) (42% thermal-to-mechanical efficiency)
High-speed Alternator (95% mechanical-to-electrical efficiency)
38.7% overall efficiency

Example System #4:  "Rudolph's Rumbler"
Diesel Engine (35% efficiency)
Alternator (90% mechanical-to-electrical efficiency)
31.5% overall efficiency...but it takes power to produce diesel fuel, or a digester/gasifier for biomass.

Example System #5: "Stellar Stirling"
Parabolic Trough Solar Concentrator (75% efficient)
Improved Stirling Engine (23% efficient)
Alternator (90% efficient)
15.25% overall efficiency...but it probably won't explode and the fuel is free as long as there's no eclipse.

If we really want to futz with thermodynamics and the game adds water to the maps, we have all sorts of fun options for dealing with the waste heat that would affect the overall efficiency of the system...

I had an idea about splitting up the subsystems a bit for the thermal power plants, making each into a three-module assembly.  (Or more, if sufficient power is available on the output end or if you want to build massive solar collectors.)

Thermal Energy Source/Burner->Heat Engine->Generator

This would give us some flexibility in sizing and capability.  We could start off with a wood-burning furnace or small set of solar thermal concentrators powering a Stirling or Rankine cycle engine, which would turn a crude dynamo with mechanical commutator.  "We wound the coils by hand, and it sparks dreadfully...but we can charge the batteries with it."

Fuels:
Wood, Coal, Biomass, the local star, Geothermal Heat, Uranium

Burner/Thermal Energy Source:
Solid Fuel Burner, Gasification/Digester, Solar Concentrator, Geothermal Borehole, Nuclear Fission Reactor

Heat Engine:
Stirling (hot air engine), Otto/Diesel/Atkinson (internal combustion reciprocating engine), Rankine (steam engine, either turbine or reciprocating), Brayton (combustion turbine)

Generator:
Commutator Dynamo, Low-Speed Alternator, High-Speed Alternator.

Limited crossrange capability on the reentry vehicles (drop pods) is reasonable, the landing is still a controlled crash.  An uncontrolled crash would leave your colonists looking like Vladimir Komarov (very dead.)  Think of it as being a snap decision made to land in an area where there is some possibility of surviving long enough to be rescued.  (Such as not landing on steep slopes or mountains where the pod would tumble downhill, or in dense forest where the pod could be torn apart on impact, a steaming volcano caldera, etc.)