Messages

Randy Random is the best thing ever.

I had an amazing start, two geothermal generators buried a few layers into the side of a massive mountain, lots of beneficial events (So-and-So is joining the colony just because, tons of metal and food raining down around my compound...), and there was a serious metal vein running through the map. I had six colonists, enough food to feed twenty more, and I had made a killing selling metal and food off to passing space ships. We had repelled about four raids and the occasional mad muffalo. Things were going really well.

Then the boomrats came.

First, it was one, quickly spotted and eliminated safely at range by Darkeye, my political assassin.

Then, there were two or three, also dealt with safely. Fires were extinguished without any damage, their corpses were far away enough that I didn't even bother cleaning them up.

But one day, the air was different. None of the colonists could figure out what was different, just that it was. Darkeye was roaming the courtyard the colony had built in their times of peace when he heard the rumble of too many little creatures moving too purposefully. He called for back up. Seven colonists, all armed with high powered firearms, lined up behind sandbags and prepared to defend against the swarm.

The 'rats made melee contact and Pan, the de facto leader of the colony, gave the order to fall back. With the boomrats hot on their trail, everyone made their way into the cave complex. Everyone but Darkeye, who thought he could sneak off one more shot before retreating. A boomrat had gotten into the foxhole next to him without him noticing and went straight for the neck.

The rest of the colonists made it past the inner defenses and hunkered down to defend against the still massive wave of vermin. A few well timed mines had lessened their numbers, but they were still closing. A fire had started burning out of control on the north side of the cave, and to the south was a mere three rooms: a large storage, the comms center, and the armory. Pan chose to brave the fires and find cover deeper in, while others tried leading off some 'rats into the south wing.

The two who went south were immediately killed when a 'rat got too close before its death knell took the group.

Pan, along with the remaining two colonists, took cover in the hydroponics room, where they made their stand against the last five boomrats (the last five on the map, I might add...). One colonist with her, named Faust or something like that, was a terrible shot. So bad, that he struck Pan twice from behind while firing at the 'rats as they broke through the door, incapacitating her. Faust was quickly brought down in melee, as his brawling was equally terrible. The last standing colonist tried grabbing Pan and running before a 'rat took a bite at the downed leader, ending her.

I wish I could remember the name of the survivor, it would make the tale so much more personal. I was so infuriated by the loss of my entire colony that names meant nothing and surviving with just one would have been a win.

Unfortunately, after the last boomrat was put to death, that lone survivor succumbed to fire while trying to save the cave he called home.

Yeah, I know about a few tricks to block raider movement (hydroponic tables come to mind), but having an actual object that's purpose is one-way cover just feels less cheesy to me.

I could see some other wall types with different durability ratings further down the road. And robotics seems to be a popular suggestion on the forums.

On that note, some kind of light sensor that turns power off to lights that aren't needed in the daytime?

I'm loving this game so far, and I want to see it expand and become an awesome release. Here are a few ideas I had while messing with mechanics in game:

     Crenulations or Shooter Ports: Some kind of one-way cover that I can build and have my colonists hide behind to assist my turrets in defending the base.

     Pillboxes: A 3x3 or 4x4 building colonists can sit in for cover, so I guess similar to the manned turret suggested in another thread. It could be built with a special wall type that has higher armor than standard walls or it could be an object dropped down as one entity.

     Groups: Some way of selecting a few colonists and putting them in a group number, RTS style. It would be fun to set Group One up as the front line and have Group Two come in from the side to take out the raiders.

     Colony-Wide Alert Levels: For example, setting the colony to high alert would force all unarmed colonists inside. Or, set different priorities based on alert level, ie Alert 1 everyone does the normal routine, Alert 2 people focus on repairs and medical, and so on.

     Skill Overview: A window that lets me sort colonists by skills, so I can sort by highest Warden skill, highest Research skill, etc.

     Debris Incinerator/Recycler: Some way of disposing of all the debris that builds up on the map. The recycler idea could provide some amount of metals or other materials as they're introduced.

     Remove Roof Order: As my colonists mine, I'd like to be able to remove the roof in a way that doesn't threaten to crush people/buildings.

     This may have been intentional, but if I put stuff against a wall like the food paste machine, my colonists can't repair walls behind it. I'd     personally like some way around that. For now, I'll keep my stuff away from walls.

This is a lot of random stuff, and I feel like beta is the best time to offer suggestions as the game is still very malleable. I look forward to discussion and criticism on my ideas!