Topics

Morning!

I posted this a year ago, but since we're heading in the general direction now, I'll recap the idea.

How about a room and door type that visitors can utilize?
We could put in beds, tables, food and drinks for them, like an old western bar. Shelves would hold the items thought for visitors and could be disabled for colonist consumption (colonists only restock them).
Building on that, maybe crafting music instruments for artists to use could lead to a small stage for occasional performances even. Just like a party spot.
Of course, colonists would use the facilities too to some extend, to meet the travelers.
However, if you took good care of visitors, they could build friendships, even give you positive faction relation bonuses. If you severely impress them, someone of their group could decide to join up with you without angering the faction or needing to be arrested. Perhaps if they found a good friend, family member or lover in your colony, it could persuade them to stay more easily.
Those public buildings could also be a rally point for them during an attack if they are too outmatched.

I think the mechanics are all there at this point, just a matter of combining them.

Cheers,
Chris

Hello!

I thought a whole lot about it and this is what I've come up with..

Why don't the colonists get 2 handheld item slots?
They would be conditional and called left hand and right hand.
(Sidenote: Ambidextrous trait, default hand when picking up weapons, later.)

Now, say I want to equip a stage 1 guy..
Bow - would use both hands (disabling non-default slot)
Spear - dito
Longsword - would use default hand
..leaving other hand for e.g. a wooden/steel shield (I envision a small round buckler and a greatshield like the knights used - or the wooden variant, viking - and a tower shield like the romans used - or for wooden tower shields, the Zulu variant)

Stage 2 guy
LMG - both hands (disable nondefault slot)
Pistol - default hand
..leaving the other hand for other items, like a steel riot shield (values see tower shield, just looks more modern with a window) or a fire extinguisher (spray thingie, one-time use throwaway, researched together with the foam popper) OR a one-handed melee weapon.

Now, one-handed melee weapon in secondary hand? Yep. They would be less effective, but you could finally give your hunters both weapon types, and they would automatically default to ranged weapons (default hand), checking the nondefault hand for useable stuff as soon as they got anything in melee range (shield, knife, fire extinguisher). It would be slightly less effective there, but a lot better than your fists.

Also I would like to see a baton for stage 2 people, with a higher chance to KO than kill your opponent - nondefault hand wielded, this could enable your soldiers to be given the order to charge forward and capture someone using the melee order, effectively telling them to not use their guns but still get that guy down. This could be very helpful to deal with berserk own colonists as well. Knock out to calm down without cutting their limbs off and making them useless later.

Refined, this would result in lefthanded, righthanded characteristics and a rare ambidextrous trait, which eliminates the nondefault-hand-penalty for that character, making them ideal hunters or riot police officers.

Of course if a colonists lacks an arm, he would only have the other slot active, maybe resulting in a penalty for weapons use if it is his untrained arm and not allowing him to use a bow, LMG or other two handed weapon at all.

So, what do you say?

PS: Water bucket. Made of wood. For stage 1 firefighting.

Cheers,
Chris

Morning!

Today's find: Corn.

It is not affected by [Blight] and cannot be grown in hydroponics.

Fix: It should.

Cheers,
Chris

Hello,

noticed this on my newest playthrough.

I built Hydroponics buildings since my colony has a rather short growing period.
Even with Phoebe on Free, the frequent solar flares, the enormous power demand of a single sun bulb (1200W), the blights etc put together mean that the hydroponics basins oftentimes will be shut down (solar flare/power problems).
Since stuff planted in them dies after a few hours without power already, a single blackout means losing your crops.
All in all they die so often, it is much more viable for me to just not use hydroponics basins and instead box in a bit of soil with walls and a roof and a sun lamp. Those plants in real earth live through all of the "disasters" but a blight.

Maybe hydroponics basins and sun lamps need rebalancing?
Especially if you keep in mind 1 power plant can only power 1 lamp and a few basins. Most maps let you build 4-5 power plants only, the rest of your energy is unreliable (wind/sun dependant) and not suited for plants.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vkqbvvzv8kio0de/rw-hydro.jpg?dl=0

Left building works through eclipses, solar flares, blackouts, "Zzzt"s, etc. without a single plant keeling over. They just dont grow further for a while.
Right building barely ever gets plants to harvest, maybe once per year. Flip the switch and they die within seconds.

Here is an idea for a fix:

What if.. Hydroponics basins used as much power as the heater you see in both rooms, and provided "just the right heat" for only the plants, so that the right building would not require a heater or air condition anymore, and the plants were kept temperated through the basin?
This would mean that once power cuts out on a basin, the plants would rely on the room temperature around them and possibly freeze to death.
If however the room is kept warm - say, because its waaay inside a mountain or still has heater/air cooling in place and the temperature has to drop first - they wouldn't die from blackouts as instantly as before, surviving them if you planned ahead a bit.

Unpowered hydroponics basins could behave much like standard plant pots outside. Powered ones would regulate the heat around the plants to be optimal and have better soil inside because of the automated systems keeping them watered.
The sun lamp, with a little less power need (most power hungry item ingame, compares to 6 comm stations or 6 incinerators.. sense?) would be the replacement for the sunlight still, and on a blackout the plants would behave like their surrounding light dictates, and rely on the room temperature for growth percentage influence.

Fixed powered basin + sunlamp conditions:
rich soil, brightly lit, ideal temperature for the plant, letting it grow a bit faster than on a good field outside
Totalling about 1000W for an entire hydroponics room with one lamp and about 6-8 basins.

Fixed powered basin + normal lamp conditions:
soil, room's lighting status, ideal temperature for the plants, about as effective as a normal field outside

Fixed unpowered basin + real sunlight conditions:
dirt, room's lighting status, room's temperature, as effective as a normal plant pot outside

I think this would make hydroponics work efficient enough to survive a blackout on a summer day, while allowing thought-through in-mountain designs for the uber fancy gardeners to really make them efficient for big colonies in any conditions.

Cheers,
Chris

Summary - Some of the items you can create can never be sold.

Steps to Reproduce -
1. Make a gold gladius (or other weapon)
2. Talk to any and all traders you come across, most will price it at 9000+
3. Notice that those who would buy it are always low on money (under 3000)
4. Notice how you cannot buy anything from them that would halfway make sense and actually be worth that much silver.. usually they carry less than 9000 silver worth of items
5. Give up trying to sell it after a couple of real life days

Expected Results - Those who buy art pieces usually have enough money on them. Either the combat supplies traders should have the same high amount or the exotic ones should also buy anything made of gold.

Actual Results - Noone could afford buying even one gold weapon of poor quality.

Hey folks,

I just noticed something.

In my colony I use a lot of power lines.
It's only natural that they get hit in a thunderstorm at some point.
But playing in a desert map, getting my power from halfway across the map, i use a thin powerline from there to my colony.. and today I had to repair the exact same spot in every thunderstorm. Even after restarting the game. It's as if there are a handful of spots on the map that always get hit by lightning. I could just tear down the line and put it about 5 tiles north or south and it would be safe.
Are the spots that are struck by lightning really supposed to be this predictable?

In the image linked in my sig, it's the spot at the top right corner, where the ]-shape formation of rocks lies across the power line. Every thunderstorm, a lightning hits that exact spot.

I just had this idea while pondering the food issues discussed in the other forum.

edit: I will keep adding to this in further posts.

How about an item that's a town clock. You could research it, then build it.
It would do only one thing - it would make the whole town (radius 100?) drop what they're doing as soon as it gets dark, and gather round the designated tables to eat together. Dinner time!

Of course it shouldn't override firing at raiders or anything, but.. the small stuff.
It would give them a few social chat points and a full stomach before bed, making them more productive in the mornings and possibly more balanced in mood when they wake up.

Another simple thing - Windows.
Nothing fancy, could re-use the doors for it.
Shooting through is allowed, could even take damage, acting like a bush, giving partial cover. No climbing through them tho.
They could - if employed right - even let the sunlight inside, so you don't have to build indoor lamps for buildings that are only houses with beds.

Also, haystacks.
Same as sandbags, but less hitpoints and made of wood (or if corn is introduced later, corn).
Just simple 1x2 haystacks to hide behind and look nice. I'm doing this with 1x2 firewood zones right now, and it adds greatly to a town flair.

Carts.
Simple version, the push-a-lot-around. Take wood, make cart, assign it to a colonist to push it around if he's about to go a long way to haul something back. Enables him to carry bigger stacks of stuff, saving another colonist from walking the same long way.
Complex version, for later, the (horse) carriage. Tamed animal + cart. Villager can walk up to the already tamed animal, then lead it around, with the cart being bigger and able to carry even more.
Needs animal taming mechanics tho. (Maybe see prisoners, special prison being a fenced off area and a haystack bed for the animal?)

Speaking of.. Fences. Simple wood fences. Same mechanic as sandbags, so climbable, and a bit of cover bonus. And fence doors, so you can make nice growing zones.

While I'm at it, might as well go for broke: Saloon interior.
Poker table - a round 2x2 table with cards on it, idle colonists could socialize over a card game instead of standing around. They could simply be more interesting than plain tables if you're idle, and less interesting if you're hungry and want a place to sit and eat at.
Bar - same differrence, spaced like a hydroponics thingy, but to sit at when idle and have a chat. Could even offer more jobs like Barkeeper and Whiskeymaker later on (I did mention growing corn, yes? Doesn't always have to go to a baker..)
Saloon interiors could also be allowed to be used by visitors from other colonies. If they do, you could get some loyalty points, or maybe even talk one into staying forever (prisoner mechanic - chat him up to stay, over a whiskey, meal or card game).
Another Saloon-ish thing, a 2x3 stage set. Artists (up to 3 per stage) could get instruments from crafting (new table, instrument maker), and actually be artistic by performing, adding entertainment (environment bonus). Stages could also be built on a town square like I set up in my town. Lets make ZZ Top out of space jockeys.
Saloon table - same as a table, only round, and actually a (default low priority) food storage (if even enabled) that visitors might use to quench their hunger at, using your supplies, growing more loyal to you.
Visitor mode for beds - design rooms for them to stay at overnight (see prison).
Saloon doors and guest room doors of course would need to be always unlocked (not requiring keys), so visitors can get to the entertainment bit of their visit.

Basically this would let you set up really nice rooms for people to be in, to counter the effects of psychic drones or the like, and also it would go a long way towards showing visitors how nice your colony is, so they can spread the word for loyalty points or even decide to stay at your town forever and join up.

Oh, right. I'd like more table variants. Especially 1x2 and 1x1, for colonist homes.
And the Equipment Rack, if made of wood instead, could be a great place to store clothing in.