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I feel before modding should even be considered we should have an actual game with a solid foundation. The game needs to be built up to it's best/final version before the community decides it needs more/different content.

Not necessarily - Project Zomboid opened their game up to modding (adding in Lua support in 0.2.0) right from the offset, which has been very successful and created a solid modding community. The more open the game is modding, the more interesting mods you get.

I struggled to pick one - they're all pretty damn interesting. I suppose my lowest vote would be end-game, purely for the fact that I vote gameplay higher than endings. I personally see endings as a bit of the pat on the head, rather than anything particularly enjoyable - pleasures in the journey as they say.
I went for modding next, as a strong modding community is highly beneficial - they keep the game fresh in times where development slows down, and they can come up with some really cool stuff. Also, I've modded in the past and thoroughly enjoyed it. Although, thinking on it now, with the testing closed, it probably won't add that much at the moment. Anything that makes the colonists more rich is the way forward I think.

> Ecclipses - powerful, but cannot be exposed to light or enter lit areas without taking serious damage or death. They will attempt to destroy light sources and power lines to enter areas where your colonists are. Will require more planning when wiring your base. Most likely a harder level type. Run out of power when they come and you're in trouble.

> Weremuffalo - a muffalo hidden in the herd, that was perhaps bitten at some point in the past... turns into a terrifying beast at full moon. (I'm not sure if it's planned to be able to raise muffalo as cattle, but this could be a fun edition).

+1 on different turret types.

In regards to making them more difficult, I would suggest:
> More specialised types. I.e. Shotgun (short range only), Machine gun (Low accuracy), High velocity (High accuracy, low firing rate) - so that every type has weakness.
> Limitied rotating range - they do not have 360 rotation, thus can be flanked.
> Anti-turret specialised raiders - have extra scripts that are aware of above weaknesses and work accordingly, or perhaps carry weapons strong against turrets and weak against colonists, or something like that.

I don't think this is a bad idea as a late game technology, although restricted to manual labour/construction tasks and melee only combat for balance. It would be good if they were difficult enough to build that you only ever had 1 or 2. Would be interesting for the possiblity of difficult level raiders having a mech in their party just to terrorise you a bit.

I've only seen the raiders activity in the youtube videos I've watched, so can't actually see what they do, but for new behaviour I would suggest (without introducing new types):

> Thieves - their goal is to steal equipment. Once they break in and find what they need, they take it and leave.
> Slavers - their goal is to capture your colonists. Once they have incapicated 1 or 2, they take them and leave.
> Saboteurs - their goal is to cause as much damage as possible. They light multiple fires and attack key structures or anything undefended before escaping.
> Snipers - they have long range weapons and sit away from the camp and attack those in the open. This forces your colonists indoors, and you need to get creative to respond to them.

And some suggestions for new types:

> Ecclipses - powerful, but cannot be exposed to light or enter light areas without taking serious damage or death. They will attempt to destroy light sources and power lines to enter areas where your colonists are. Will require more planning when wiring your base. Most likely a harder level type. Run out of power when they come and you're in trouble.
> Weremuffalo - a muffalo hidden in the herd, that was perhaps bitten at some point in the past... turns into a terrifying beast at full moon. (I'm not sure if it's planned to be able to raise muffalo as cattle, but this could be a fun edition).

I apologise, I haven't checked if these have already been suggested...

@ Ideaboy, I deleted it with this intention, but then changed my mind, seems better to keep these things to one thread as they all come under this unbrella. Now I've messed up the message order, ah geez.

Huh, guess there arn't too many UK fans.

It's alright buddy, you're not the only one
Essex originally, but in London these days!

I would avoid anything round and brown as the O, considering the game contains the word 'rim', and people (like me) may make connections. I like the font though - very Weyland.

pool - ladders = infinite fun

It's how I used to steal the inheritances of everyone in the neighbourhood!

It's a valid point about different game styles though. There are some that may make the game too easy - it's a challenge for the developer to respond to these creatively (I vote for weremuffalos)...

I'll add it was Mathas, suggested on the first page, which put me on to this game (via this thread: http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/2074-rimworld-pre-alpha-is-incredible-so-far/) and got me contributing to the kickstarter. If you love your youtubers, they'll love your game right back

As people have said, this doesn't strike me as a multiplayer game, at least one that would work without changing the game quite significantly.

Also, have you ever considered map 'cells'? I.e. you step over one side and another cell loads. It would be one way of expanding the map drastically while saving on CPU. The loads are ugly, but it is a cheap way of making a large map.

It could be quite demanding for a while. The game is quite un-optimized right now and optimizing it is a non-trivial task I probably won't take on for some time. My 3 year old non-gaming laptop chugs on it quite hard.

Ah thanks for the answer - alphas are rarely optimised so I have no expectations there. I will hopefully be a good low-spec tester when the alpha rolls round in 2014! Otherwise it'll be a wait for a new laptop before playing, which would be a shame.

Brace yourself, s**tload of posts are coming in this forum, for the better and the worse !

Popularity comes with it's downsides, mainly for the moderators 
Luckily, the dwarf fortressy style of the game is quite niche, so hopefully be a slightly maturer crowd. Fresh perspective is always great, but also be prepared for the same suggestions a thousand times...

What about a 'Reavers' continuation option?
One game ends when you successfully build a ship and escape. Another game starts on the same map with new crashed landlanded colonists - except your old colony is still there and the old members who got left behind have all gone mad. Essentially your old colony is now your enemy, it'd be like playing against yourself.

So you have all your previous architecture and resources which makes most of the game pointless?

Well, you wouldn't have ownership over anything so wouldn't be able to use doors or access the gathered resources. Plus they'd be filled with hostile and chaotic survivors. You could also simulate a time gap and cause random heavy damage and structures to all the structures.
The basic idea is playing a post-apocalyptic version of your own previous world.

What about a 'Reavers' continuation option?
One game ends when you successfully build a ship and escape. Another game starts on the same map with new crashed landlanded colonists - except your old colony is still there and the old members who got left behind have all gone mad. Essentially your old colony is now your enemy, it'd be like playing against yourself.