So a summary of what i'm suggesting is to improve the life of the world around the map you are playing to encourage exploration and interaction with other factions. I think the best way to do this is to first cluster factions and increase the number of faction and faction types, then introduce new events that have larger consequences on other factions. I do understand it may be a bit late in development to suggest such large changes, if it is possible to do via mods I may even give it a go when I have the time to invest.
New Faction Types (Names for descriptive purposes):
- Slaver Tribals
These tribals would primarly focus on stealing colonist members from other factions and either putting them to work or randoming/selling off. There main goal when attacking a colony would be to abduct as many people as possible, not just one member then run away. In the background events for request for help from allied factions would run down as usual, but if you fail to show up and help, faction bases would disappear and be replaced with slaver outposts. Destroying one of these factions would return outposts back to normal towns.
Main trader caravan type would be slaver merchants.
- Conquesting Tribals
These tribals would concentrate on killing your colonists, if they cant they run and return another day, during world events a missed oppertunity could result in factions being replaced by the enemy faction. These would essentially act like vanilla enemy tribes when attacking the colony.
Main trader caravan type would be war merchants.
- Raider Tribals
Raider tribals would act as thieves, when they attack their ultimate goal is to steal resources from you, and destroy infrastructure to hinder your progress. During world events a raid from these guys would entirely destroy faction bases all together, or sending the faction to another location.
Main trader caravan type would be war merchants.
- Community Tribals
These are more peaceful in nature, when provoked they also concentrate on war like conquesting tribals, world events for these would result in enemy factions either dying out or being pushed back. But these events would be rare unless first provoked by one of the other tribal types.
Main trader caravan type would be bulk goods and shaman merchants.
Instead of 4 starting factions there would be around 8 for a 30% coverage world, 12 for 50%, and 16+ for 100%. Factions that are not nearby would still engage in these events but they would not be shown to the player other than checking the world map periodically.
Next up would be more maps for the player in the form of outposts, outpost maps would be permenant sites which can be manned or left abandoned. These maps would be smaller than the player map but larger than the caravaning events. Players could leave the outpost unguarded and return later but world events could put them at risk if left alone too long, alternatively you could setup base defences such as turrents and traps which would provide the outpost with a defence value to fight off weaker raids.
The point of these would be to provide the player multiple locations that they could create trade routes between, to encourage their use I would suggest maps being more focused on fewer resource types but more of them. Here is how that might play out, player starts in a desert where only sandstone and camels are common, 1 day walk away you have a lush oasis where you can grow food and mine gold, perhaps another outpost would be required for gathering steel and components, having all these ores on a single map would be extremely unlikely and very fortunate if happened upon.
New Faction Types (Names for descriptive purposes):
- Slaver Tribals
These tribals would primarly focus on stealing colonist members from other factions and either putting them to work or randoming/selling off. There main goal when attacking a colony would be to abduct as many people as possible, not just one member then run away. In the background events for request for help from allied factions would run down as usual, but if you fail to show up and help, faction bases would disappear and be replaced with slaver outposts. Destroying one of these factions would return outposts back to normal towns.
Main trader caravan type would be slaver merchants.
- Conquesting Tribals
These tribals would concentrate on killing your colonists, if they cant they run and return another day, during world events a missed oppertunity could result in factions being replaced by the enemy faction. These would essentially act like vanilla enemy tribes when attacking the colony.
Main trader caravan type would be war merchants.
- Raider Tribals
Raider tribals would act as thieves, when they attack their ultimate goal is to steal resources from you, and destroy infrastructure to hinder your progress. During world events a raid from these guys would entirely destroy faction bases all together, or sending the faction to another location.
Main trader caravan type would be war merchants.
- Community Tribals
These are more peaceful in nature, when provoked they also concentrate on war like conquesting tribals, world events for these would result in enemy factions either dying out or being pushed back. But these events would be rare unless first provoked by one of the other tribal types.
Main trader caravan type would be bulk goods and shaman merchants.
Instead of 4 starting factions there would be around 8 for a 30% coverage world, 12 for 50%, and 16+ for 100%. Factions that are not nearby would still engage in these events but they would not be shown to the player other than checking the world map periodically.
Next up would be more maps for the player in the form of outposts, outpost maps would be permenant sites which can be manned or left abandoned. These maps would be smaller than the player map but larger than the caravaning events. Players could leave the outpost unguarded and return later but world events could put them at risk if left alone too long, alternatively you could setup base defences such as turrents and traps which would provide the outpost with a defence value to fight off weaker raids.
The point of these would be to provide the player multiple locations that they could create trade routes between, to encourage their use I would suggest maps being more focused on fewer resource types but more of them. Here is how that might play out, player starts in a desert where only sandstone and camels are common, 1 day walk away you have a lush oasis where you can grow food and mine gold, perhaps another outpost would be required for gathering steel and components, having all these ores on a single map would be extremely unlikely and very fortunate if happened upon.