Messages

I think the game has too many solar flares, I suppose.  As ShadowDragon said, "redonkulous".

They are most effective, and most frightening, if you've been relying on turret defenses and a raider party waits for one to occur before attacking.  In upsetting the food supply, they really provide very little effect, because berries and potatoes are produced again in only two days from the first onset of the solar flare.

It's only their effect on the one crop that requires 3 weeks to mature even in a hydroponics tub that is devastating and absolutely effective.

I think, Damien, that you are correct that I was ignoring the basic game mechanics issues, in that there should be a hydroponics balancing factor, but I feel like they could be more balanced in a few ways:
a) Require maintenance by colonists on a regular basis (to refill nutrients or whatnot) as the crops mature
b) Require explicit nutrient resupply (so your colonists have to go mulch things or shove in animal corpses or whatever to feed the hydroponics tubs)
c) Wear out and require repair as they produce crops

Solar Flares (and I think, based on their severity, they are Coronal Mass Ejections) are like a giant hammer of destabilization against a significant but optional system.

(And yes, I grow Devilstrand in the ground at the moment.)

I understand your point Damien.  I'm not suggesting removing uncertainty from the Hydroponics and food systems, I'm suggesting that one random event is having a disporpotionate effect on the new material system.  Other random events already impact the food supply (plant plagues, for example).  I spend most of my time worrying (and by worrying, I mean managing production) on the topic of food in my Builder difficulty builds.  I think that's ok.

Is there any direct objection to a hardening research tree?  Hardened laptops are actively deployed today.  They are 3x or 4x as expensive, and are usually a bit slower than a non-hardened counterpart.  They are also a much less vulnerable to EMP blasts (which could be another game benefit).  More finicky electronics are harder to harden.

You have to harden both the power-supply (ie, the Battery) and the technology that is using the energy (the Hydroponics tub/Door/whatever).

If you charged a battery, then configured the power grid (via the current system, you'd need to cut the connection to that battery) so that it is providing a backup energy reserve for the hydroponics tub in question, then someone sufficiently interested in raising a cash crop via Hydroponics could do so, but I doubt that it would be a standard solution.

This, again, is only a "problem" because of the amount of time it requires for the Devilstrand to develop.  Cotton, 1 Day - Berries, 1 Day - Potatoes, 1 Day - Devilstrand - 20 Days.

Maybe making Devilstrand slightly less fragile when in a hydroponics tub would solve the issue?  Retard the growth a bit?  Most plants that require a long-time to develop are also reasonably robust.

(My current solution is to grow it in the ground, and that's ok, but it's hours of game-play even at Warp 3 to go through 90 game days.)

I don't disagree with that, and for standard crops, it really is just an annoyance and merely provides some irregularity in the food supply.  I'm suggesting that one of the effects of adding new materials and crops has had an unintended side-effect.  Functionally, I can set Devilstrand to grow in a Hydroponic Tub, but I will never realize a crop of Devilstrand from that tub.  The option may as well not exist and merely wastes time and resources.

Further, when I'm purposely digging myself deep into a mountain, like some sort of Space Western version of the Cheyenne Mountain Base, it's frustrating that I can't protect my food generation capabilities beyond vast stockpiles.

Speaking of genetic splicing and the possibilities of even near-tech (to us), the MaddAddam Trilogy (Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, MaddAddam) from Margaret Atwood has multiple wonderful examples of gene-splice animals and gene-tech:

Pigoons: pig-stock with human genes designed for organ harvesting.  In the wild, they are aggressive and intelligent pack hunters.
Rakunk: A cross of a skunk and raccoon - designed as a pet replacement, no scent and tamer than a raccoon
Snat: A rat/snake cross - a bio-weapon meant to be released on others
Bobkitten: A Bobcat/Domestic Cat cross meant to control the wild population of feral cats
Wolvogs: An animal that looks like a tame dog but has the mind of a wolf, designed as deceptive guard animals that can't be manipulated or made friends with
Chickienobs: A complicated chicken-esque creation designed to produce vast quantities of chicken-like breast meat, having a simple mouth chute and no brain beyond autonomic functions - essentially "chicken sea anemones", very disturbing to look at
Glowing Rabbits: A rabbit breed given the firefly luminscence genetics and designed to be amusing and interesting in park-lands.

Anyway, this is just a set of ideas from "near-future" fiction.  I highly recommend the books (especially Oryx and Crake), but they are not for kids.

The emergent behavior is like a bug, but technically there is no flaw in each primitive.

Primitive A: Devilstrand takes 20+ days to grow in a Hydroponics tub (note that Hydroponics double typical growth rates, I think)
Primitive B: Hydroponics Tub require consistent electrical power or else the plants shortly die
Primitive C: Solar Flares, which knock out all electronics, are common (at least on the "builder" level difficulties I've been experimenting with), usually 1x or so a week

Emergent Outcome: You cannot grow Devilstrand in Hydroponics Tubs, the only safe way is the traditional way, in the ground.  Thus, you wait for 45 days of growth to harvest your first crop of Devilstrand. (45 days of growth appears to be 90ish actual game days, because even with Sun Lamps, plants don't grow at night.)

This may be entirely intended, since Devilstrand is a magic wonder cloth.  But it suggests several things to me, if Hydroponics are actually meant to be useful for cash crops:
a) Loss of electricity to Hydroponics reduces the growth rate merely to "normal" ground while there is no electricity, rather than killing the entire crop - this would make the Solar Flare a bearable annoyance
b) Add research in "hardening" technologies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_hardening).  For extra cost, allow any arbitrary device to be "hardened" after the research is completed.  Thus, one could build hardened power conduits, generators, hydroponics tubs, or doors, or (maybe more attractively to some) turrets.  This would add cost but allow one to invest in secure cash crop development.
c) Cut the number of solar flares on some difficulty levels, this is the simplest but least satisfying fix

He, Tynan, has two explicit points about DF's influence on the main KickStarter page:

I've always thought the best part of games like Dwarf Fortress and The Sims was the stories that come out of them. That's why RimWorld is designed as a story generator. It's not about winning and losing - it's about the drama, tragedy, and comedy that goes on in your colony.

Which suggests what's he primarily interested in is the ability to make your own stories, of which DF and the Sims both excel.

Then he says this, more directly to the question:

In terms of game design, the game draws most from the 800-pound gorilla of the simulation genre, Dwarf Fortress. We also take ideas from indie hits like FTL (our semi-random event format) and Prison Architect (its way of presenting a complex world in a comprehensible, interactive way). And, there are many others.

So yes, Dwarf Fortress is, indeed, meant to be an inspiration.

Not to mention that throughout the game new colonists drop in on you or are converted from raiders/slaves all the time and odds are one of them will be from a world advanced enough to understand these DIY projects on a conceptual level.

I think that's a valuable possible story possibility.  Your band of untutored serfs manage to capture a lone and hapless 'pirate'.  (Perhaps they even invented, for their own personal comfort, the pirate part).  The captured pirate is the only one that understands all this crazy tech around them.  The pirate transitions from being their captured prisoner to one of the leaders of the colony.

I think it also raises the possibility that colonies 'blessed' with high science characters may be aggressively head-hunted by other tribes, with more or less forceful means of coercion.

Though it does raise the amusing point of why three unsupervised serfs were on a high-tech spaceship in the Outer Rim in the 1st place? Hmmm... starting to build a picture of why they may have crashed.

Yes, it is one fun possibility.    Another possibility is that space-pirates boarded their vessel and cut off air to all the passenger decks in the attack - our small band of colonists, being menials, had been stored in stowage, and thus managed to escape.

The story possibilities are endless.

Once again pointing out that crash-landed colonists with scraps won't be performing theoretical research except for one-offs like new archaeology/materials/fauna on their planet.

I know I started with that distinction, but my point was that what is DIY to 1 person is probably 'theoretical' to another.  RimWorld includes, by design, people from a very wide set of cultures and technological backgrounds.  A knight is going to find an automobile incredibly impressive, and even with a schematic won't even have the first clue how to get started.  Someone that has seen hex wrenches, wire strippers, and pipe fitters before is going to proceed much more rapidly.

And the only important game-play difference I suggested  between the two classes is that the colonists don't know how long theoretical research is going to take.  They can still undertake it.

I agree with the general theme of the group that there could be 2 classes of research:

• DIY - Attempting to build something known to exist, with principles understood, but with materials/supplies available on the planet
• Theoretical - Attempting to expand the knowledge available to the "known world"

I just wanted to point out that what is "DIY" and what is "Theoretical" depends on the overall tenor and capabilities of the colony's staff.  We've all heard the trope that "Magic is science sufficiently advanced".  A colony of 2 low-tech knights and 1 mid-world bureaucrat is going to find a lot of concepts ... magical.

Because most people involved with the colony are simply users of the technology - they don't need to understand how it works to be able to take advantage of it - I hesitate to suggest that options should be available based on some sort of aggregated statistics of the colony - instead it should be based on the most sophisticated minds available, and those minds need to spend their time working at it.

However, the only difference I think there should necessarily be between DIY and Theoretical Research in gameplay terms is that:

• Theoretical Research takes longer than it would have if it was DIY
• The amount of time required to successfully research theoretical topics cannot be known in advance.

Again, what is theoretical and what is DIY depends on the sophistication of the people doing the research.  Because scientific inquiry is a skill and because RimWorld technology research is really about exposure to tech, I do believe that colonists who engage in theoretical research should be improve their research trait over time (possibly affected by other personality quirks - a "hidebound" researcher isn't going to get a lot better).

This approach heightens the tactical value of a scientist, but also allows a colony without such a resource to boot-strap itself back into technological prowess.  Particularly potent scientists may even attract threats to the colony. 

[Animal Encounters]

I read through the previous posts here, so I apologize if anything is too derivative to what's already been said.

EDIT:  Most of the description involved with some of these incident suggestions are meant to suggest possibilities for how these incidents may interact with other existing systems.  An increased chance of attack by Pirates after the "Snake Oil Technologists" come by, for example.

Animal Encounters

• Problem-Solving Predators - As prey species are hunted by the colonists - a certain class of predators begin to identify the colonists as a competitor for prey - and will attack colonists who are near their prey animals.
• Rogue Predators - If a predator's prey species are exhausted (by the colonists or by other exigencies), some predators may switch to preying on colonists - not in a berserk fury, but through ambush and cunning (ie, when they outnumber the colonists, and when the colonists are far from base)
• Unexpected Neighbors - What had appeared to anthropomorphically biased colonists to be merely another animal species may actually be sentient - if one the humans have difficulty contacting.  If acted against, this species may be able to telepathically control other large predator animals to attack, and may even lure colonists with hidden traits to join them in their warrens. Developing a useful symbiosis with the species may have many benefits.  (unapologetic homage to "40,000 in Gehenna" by CJ Cherryh). 
  

Low-Tech

• Superstitious Mis-Identification - One of your settlers looks way too much like a folk hero/God of a local tribe.  If they see him/her, a small group of people with strictly primitive skills try to join the settlement (a mixed blessing).  If they are refused, they attempt to kidnap the colonist - using force if necessary.  Also if they are refused, your colonist may decide to join them willingly depending on his/her own morale.
• Sacrilege - On a similar theme, some piece of technology (maybe solar panels) is upsetting to a local people.  They attack and will destroy that technology.  They will only attack settlers if they are attacked.
• Harem Raids - Low-tech societies can sustain themselves most successfully with many children.  A wandering tribe does not have enough women.  They will offer to buy women prisoners, but if their needs are not met or they are refused -they may lurk near fields and attempt to kidnap woman settlers.
• Honor Raids - A single lone warrior may attempt to pass to steal/damage one piece of technology at night - taking back remnants to their group as proof of their victory.  The warrior will fight back if disturbed, but will attempt to flee.  If subdued and allowed to leave, they will leave peacefully.  If no one ever returns, the tribe may attack en masse.

Ultra-High Tech

• Automated Drone Mining - Similar (but less nasty) to the Berserker Idea, but a ultra-high-tech probe may land nearby and begin doing a massive amount of excavation.  The probe is actually only interested in gathering a certain amount of ore, but will mine as much nearby rock as necessary to achieve its goal.  It will ignore low-tech provocation, but will respond to attacks that have a chance of damaging it.  If you manage to destroy it, it may yield valuable tech (as well as a great deal of ore within its storage units).  Some may allow it to proceed unmolested, because the tunnels it leaves behind may be useful to a defensively-minded colony.
• One Wayfarer to Another - An ultra high-tech personality manifests itself to your colony because of the presence of one or more individuals gifted with an otherwise hidden trait.  Those individuals are drawn to and learn from the entity, abandoning their normal work.  If the entity or the individuals are attacked by the colonists, it departs with them.  The entity will defend itself and its charges from outside threats savagely.  After a time, the entity leaves, and the colonists either have brand new useful abilities (maybe improved research skills or nigh immortality) or have developed brand new not very useful psychoses.

Ultra-Tech:

• Escorted Collection Group - A well-equipped party lands on the planet for some purpose - perhaps to mine or harvest a particularly rare material.  Their attached military unit immediately forms a perimeter, and the group proceeds with its work.  They leave peacefully if unmolested for a period of time.  If approached peacefully (ie, not by people with weapons), they may be willing to trade or even be helpful.  Canny settlers may lure pirates into attacking this delegation's perimeter - weakening both parties enough that the colonists can then route the pirates and then turn on the delegation and crush it.
• Join our Dominion/Imperium/Federation - A successful and established colony may be offered the 'choice' of joining an off-world group.  The group may offer more or less advantages for joining, but will expect regular tariffs on produced materials and may even conscript colonists at will (they may also send undesirable colonists there).  If their offer is refused, or (especially if) the colony decides to ignore demands after joining, they may be attacked by a large organized group of space marines representing that power.
• Snake-Oil Technologists - Traders come by and sell weapons/equipment at surprisingly reasonable prices - but that weaponry/equipment has very high failure rates.  The technologists may even be in league with particularly crafty pirate bands who shortly thereafter attack the seemingly well-armed and probably over-confident colonists.

Human Interactions across TL:

• The Carnival Comes to Town - A traveling show comes to your colony.  They entertain the colonists, but may have darker motives.  When they leave, they may take (willing or unwilling) colonists with them.  They may also steal unsupervised technology. If you send them away without a show, morale on base may drop precipitously.
• Pleasure Slaves for a Price - A colony with a very high imbalance of men to women (in either direction) may be a perfect market for a visit from the fleshpot dealers.  They sell attractive, comely, often psychotic and usually unskilled slaves of the appropriate gender.  Particularly vile and enterprising slave dealers may actually be in cahoots with powerful pirate gangs - selling slaves with highly contagious diseases intended to weaken the colony before an attack
• Rescue and Protection - A lone person (or very small group of people) are encountered.  They are on the run from what they describe as a particularly vile group of pirates.  The person, or people, have highly desirable abilities/talents (depending on the needs of the colony).  If they are taken in to the colony, a formidable pirate raid follows.  The pirates demand the return of their escapees.  If refused, your colonists may resent you putting their lives on the line for relative strangers.

[How I found about Rimworld?]

I'm Gargrant.  I build AI systems for training and also predictive simulation models of social groups.  I've seen narrative story-teller systems before and I am also really excited about the story potential.  I tend to make my own stories even in games that have their own prescribed story arcs.

How I found about Rimworld?
My friend posted it on Facebook.  I love the idea and the videos to date. 

Most favourite other games?
1.  The Romance of the Three Kingdoms Historical Simulations Series by KOEI.  I've been playing those (and getting trounced by my father) since I was quite young with the NES.  They haven't released one in quite some time, but they ported it to PC and it's my go-to for idle gaming.
2.  Also earlier variants of SimCity - I haven't tried the most recent version due to the widespread bad reports
3.  Mecha games (Mechwarrior and Heavy Gear)- I love customizing the loadouts of the machines
4.  Mount & Blade: Warband - which has enormous potential for greatness but the underlying political-social simulation was too shallow

Most embarrassing game related moment:
- Playing D&D with adults when I was 11 - I ate too many cookies, and had to ... toss them

The Best Cereal:
As someone already said, it is obviously Cinnamon Toast Crunch (assuming you like sugar ... and cinnamon)

Random Facts:
- I dance often - pretty much all the time I'm not working or playing games
- My eyes are different colors, one blue and one green

I am really excited for RimWorld!