This is a topic i've seen mentioned multiple times but there's not an actual game mechanic or mod for it yet.
So here's me writing down the concept I would implement into Rimworld, and how I would do it.
Keep in mind, its only an idea. Not a mod, not a suggestion for the game.
I welcome any kind of discussion about it in this thread. Its implementation, its logic, etc.
Religion & Beliefs is a new game mechanic that would take care of your colonists' view of the world and make them have an impact in their lifes, enriching their stories in the process.
Your pawns will now have their own opinion of the world that surrounds them at large, and may think that robots are work of the Devil. Or that drugs are cool and should be consumed more. Or that the last eclipse was Nñorgl, The World Eater, passing near your planet.
All the relevant information would be displayed in a new tab on each pawn. It will list their beliefs and religions, and other useful information related to them.
Religions
Religions are, in this case, a big umbrella that covers and touches many aspects of a pawn's daily life.
Unlike beliefs, religions are not exclusive to a pawn. Multiple pawns can share the same religion.
However a pawn can only have one religion to follow.
Regarding their design we can go two ways about this. Handcrafted or Generated.
Generated
Generated Religions will be generated when the game World is generated.
They'd be simple but easily expandable to modded content.
Generating Religions
Each religion will be defined by two concepts. Its Concept and its Stance about that concept.
Concepts: Combat, Health, Wealth, Raiding, Intelligence, Kindness, Nature, Animals (all/specific type/specific species)... you name it.
Stance: Worship, Condemn.
Roughly, a pawn's religion affects it whenever the concept enacted or acted upon in the game.
It should always have a positive effect and a negative effect.
Examples:
Worship Combat:
Mood Buff: Whenever you harm another pawn.
Mood Debuff: If your colony has long timeframes without killing anyone.
Condemn Raiding:
Mood Buff: Whenever you kill a Raider.
Mood Debuff: Whenever you raid a base.
Handrafted
Handcrafted religions would be manually defined and more complex.
Types of Handcrafted Religions
Similar to Generated Religions, Handcrafted religions would be dedicated to concepts like combat, o a specific animal species.
However, their rules would be more specific about it, using Commandments.
Examples:
- The Church of the Live Earth, which has two Commandments.
1. Thrumbos are sacred. - You cannot harm Thrumbos. You'll get a big, long-term mood debuff if you do so. Taming them is okay.
2. Trees are to be respected. - You can build stuff out of wood, but burning wood is sacrilege. So, a mood debuff whenever wood is being burned. Actual fire and wood-fueled generators count.
- The Cult of the Blind Rage, which has one Commandment.
1. Violence is the most raw form of expression. Celebrate it. - Pawns will get small mood boosts whenever they (or any other pawn) harms or kills anything. Bigger boosts if they're the one harming or killing.
Divine Consequences
Religions can have a god, which enables the possiblity of Divine Consequences for the set of rules of that religion. Basically, game modifiers.
Ideally these consecuences should be kept vague enough to fit the sci-fi theme of Rimworld, where everything has some sort of credible explanation.
Positive Examples:
- While there's a thunderstorm, or just rain, some random lighting bolts may hit your enemies, or set-to-hunt animals.
- Chunks of spacecraft fallen from the sky may hit your enemies too.
- Cold Snaps/Heat waves aren't as severe.
- An animal set to tame gets tamed more easily than it should.
- An illiness/infection gets gradually cured within reasonable limits.
- Mood Boosts for the colonists that need it (I'm suffering... but we're doing what's right. For that, I can't let down this community.)
Negative Examples:
- Lighting bolts may hit your stuff instead.
- Targeted blights.
- Manhunter packs
Beliefs
A belief would be, simply put, a game condition that would provide a small mood buff/debuff when met. It can also be a set of game conditions packed into one single belief. Think of them as opinions strong enough to affect their lives.
Unlike Religions, a pawn can have multiple beliefs, although no more than two, to keep it doable for the player.
Generated vs Handcrafted
As with Religions, they could be generated on the fly or handcrafted.
Generated beliefs would follow the same rules as Generated religions but toned down, and kept personal to each pawn.
Examples: [animal] is bad (Wargs are monsters), [item class] is good (drugs/guns are cool), [action] is good (trading is beneficial), etc.
They'd get buffs for doing things they think are good, harming/not doing thing they think are bad... And debuffs for harming good things or enacting in bad actions/owning bad items.
Doing, Owning, Protecting good: Buff.
Harming good: debuff.
Doing, Owning, Protecting bad: Debuff.
Harming bad: Buff.
Handcrafted beliefs would follow a complex logic.
Examples:
- Aaron believes that Thrumbos are a very intelligent creature, and butchering or taming them is a horrible thing to do. Aaron would get a big temporary debuff if something like that happens. He will, however, get a decent temporary buff when he gets to see one.
- Pepa believes Raiders are the scum of the earth and will never understand their motives. She will get a big, buff whenever a Raider is killed.
- Din believes that Combat-capable Machines are a mistake. They're dangerous, hackeable, even unpredictable on their own. Just look at these Mechanoids! He's cool with bionics though. He will get a mood debuff whenever he sees a Friendly robot and a mood buff whenever a robot, any robot, is killed.
Fun concepts:
Religions about War that specifically worship BFGs. Imagine a Church of the MOAB that worships Antigrain warheads!
Beliefs related to religions themselves.
- Aaron believes religions are the only way humans can reach enlightement and has a permanent +25 relationship with anyone that's religious.
- Din believes religions are for sheep-minded people. He has a permanent -10 relationship with anyone religious and a +15 relationship with non-religious people.
Pawns joining a religion after talking with a religious pawn, or after a near death experience.
Beliefs could be invoked by pawn backgrounds or traits, making them make more sense and have real connections to the pawn's past, making their backgrounds have more of a real impact in their actual lifes.
Hope you found the concepts and rules interesting and worth discussing! Thanks for reading 'till the end.
So here's me writing down the concept I would implement into Rimworld, and how I would do it.
Keep in mind, its only an idea. Not a mod, not a suggestion for the game.
I welcome any kind of discussion about it in this thread. Its implementation, its logic, etc.
Religion & Beliefs
(& Divine Consequences)
(& Divine Consequences)
Religion & Beliefs is a new game mechanic that would take care of your colonists' view of the world and make them have an impact in their lifes, enriching their stories in the process.
Your pawns will now have their own opinion of the world that surrounds them at large, and may think that robots are work of the Devil. Or that drugs are cool and should be consumed more. Or that the last eclipse was Nñorgl, The World Eater, passing near your planet.
All the relevant information would be displayed in a new tab on each pawn. It will list their beliefs and religions, and other useful information related to them.
Religions
Religions are, in this case, a big umbrella that covers and touches many aspects of a pawn's daily life.
Unlike beliefs, religions are not exclusive to a pawn. Multiple pawns can share the same religion.
However a pawn can only have one religion to follow.
Regarding their design we can go two ways about this. Handcrafted or Generated.
Generated
Generated Religions will be generated when the game World is generated.
They'd be simple but easily expandable to modded content.
Generating Religions
Each religion will be defined by two concepts. Its Concept and its Stance about that concept.
Concepts: Combat, Health, Wealth, Raiding, Intelligence, Kindness, Nature, Animals (all/specific type/specific species)... you name it.
Stance: Worship, Condemn.
Roughly, a pawn's religion affects it whenever the concept enacted or acted upon in the game.
It should always have a positive effect and a negative effect.
Examples:
Worship Combat:
Mood Buff: Whenever you harm another pawn.
Mood Debuff: If your colony has long timeframes without killing anyone.
Condemn Raiding:
Mood Buff: Whenever you kill a Raider.
Mood Debuff: Whenever you raid a base.
Handrafted
Handcrafted religions would be manually defined and more complex.
Types of Handcrafted Religions
Similar to Generated Religions, Handcrafted religions would be dedicated to concepts like combat, o a specific animal species.
However, their rules would be more specific about it, using Commandments.
Examples:
- The Church of the Live Earth, which has two Commandments.
1. Thrumbos are sacred. - You cannot harm Thrumbos. You'll get a big, long-term mood debuff if you do so. Taming them is okay.
2. Trees are to be respected. - You can build stuff out of wood, but burning wood is sacrilege. So, a mood debuff whenever wood is being burned. Actual fire and wood-fueled generators count.
- The Cult of the Blind Rage, which has one Commandment.
1. Violence is the most raw form of expression. Celebrate it. - Pawns will get small mood boosts whenever they (or any other pawn) harms or kills anything. Bigger boosts if they're the one harming or killing.
Divine Consequences
Religions can have a god, which enables the possiblity of Divine Consequences for the set of rules of that religion. Basically, game modifiers.
Ideally these consecuences should be kept vague enough to fit the sci-fi theme of Rimworld, where everything has some sort of credible explanation.
Positive Examples:
- While there's a thunderstorm, or just rain, some random lighting bolts may hit your enemies, or set-to-hunt animals.
- Chunks of spacecraft fallen from the sky may hit your enemies too.
- Cold Snaps/Heat waves aren't as severe.
- An animal set to tame gets tamed more easily than it should.
- An illiness/infection gets gradually cured within reasonable limits.
- Mood Boosts for the colonists that need it (I'm suffering... but we're doing what's right. For that, I can't let down this community.)
Negative Examples:
- Lighting bolts may hit your stuff instead.
- Targeted blights.
- Manhunter packs
Beliefs
A belief would be, simply put, a game condition that would provide a small mood buff/debuff when met. It can also be a set of game conditions packed into one single belief. Think of them as opinions strong enough to affect their lives.
Unlike Religions, a pawn can have multiple beliefs, although no more than two, to keep it doable for the player.
Generated vs Handcrafted
As with Religions, they could be generated on the fly or handcrafted.
Generated beliefs would follow the same rules as Generated religions but toned down, and kept personal to each pawn.
Examples: [animal] is bad (Wargs are monsters), [item class] is good (drugs/guns are cool), [action] is good (trading is beneficial), etc.
They'd get buffs for doing things they think are good, harming/not doing thing they think are bad... And debuffs for harming good things or enacting in bad actions/owning bad items.
Doing, Owning, Protecting good: Buff.
Harming good: debuff.
Doing, Owning, Protecting bad: Debuff.
Harming bad: Buff.
Handcrafted beliefs would follow a complex logic.
Examples:
- Aaron believes that Thrumbos are a very intelligent creature, and butchering or taming them is a horrible thing to do. Aaron would get a big temporary debuff if something like that happens. He will, however, get a decent temporary buff when he gets to see one.
- Pepa believes Raiders are the scum of the earth and will never understand their motives. She will get a big, buff whenever a Raider is killed.
- Din believes that Combat-capable Machines are a mistake. They're dangerous, hackeable, even unpredictable on their own. Just look at these Mechanoids! He's cool with bionics though. He will get a mood debuff whenever he sees a Friendly robot and a mood buff whenever a robot, any robot, is killed.
Fun concepts:
Religions about War that specifically worship BFGs. Imagine a Church of the MOAB that worships Antigrain warheads!
Beliefs related to religions themselves.
- Aaron believes religions are the only way humans can reach enlightement and has a permanent +25 relationship with anyone that's religious.
- Din believes religions are for sheep-minded people. He has a permanent -10 relationship with anyone religious and a +15 relationship with non-religious people.
Pawns joining a religion after talking with a religious pawn, or after a near death experience.
Beliefs could be invoked by pawn backgrounds or traits, making them make more sense and have real connections to the pawn's past, making their backgrounds have more of a real impact in their actual lifes.
Hope you found the concepts and rules interesting and worth discussing! Thanks for reading 'till the end.