There's been a bunch of suggestions already and I'll be surprised if this one hasn't been brought up.
I did try and take a look around but I found nothing specific.
I do apologize though if this has been talked to death or belong in some already existing thread.
My English is not the best either, and my grammar is terrible, you've been warned.
So a suggestion Mechs/Mech suits!
You could totally add all kinds of them.
Mining, Builder, war-mech?
How would they work?
Types:
Well obviously for the Mech's to be worthwhile they'll have to make things easier for you as a player.
It therefore, goes without saying that they'll need to be quite buffed in the area they are specialized in.
The Mining mech needs to dig faster, while also maybe have some storage?
Builder have a faster building speed?
War-mech some kind of inbuild weapon system, high amount of defense/HP?
etc.
Saying that.
I do believe all mechs should to some extend offer a degree of protection as well as higher melee damage.
Balance.
Well as said the Mech should excel in the areas its specialized in, otherwise what's the point?
I can't really comment much in terms of speed of building or mining as first of all I haven't actually played the game.
And secondly, I'm sure that would be something that'll have to be done as you developer the game.
But here is some thoughts I think I could comment on.
Buildings.
The mech shouldn't just be build out of blue, I feel a workstation could be added (possible to be used with other elements of the game?)
That would allow colonists to build the mech, upgrade or even repair.
With that a charging station could be added, allowing recharging of the mech as well as a parking space for it.
But maybe you'll want to save resources so a simply 'parking spot' which is nothing but a few markings on the ground, could be added.
Allowing for multiple mechs to be parked in spots that would cost no/close to no resources but also offer nothing but just that, a place to park.
Power.
The mech should require power, recharged by your base it self.
As said the recharge station would obviously power the mech but also serve as a 'parking spot' if you will.
What would it use power on?
Well adding power costs to all its actions and a timer on the recharging of the mech would serve well for balance.
Players should then probably have the ability to decide how much the mech is used, even allow them to run it dry of power if they wished.
A portable recharging station (Though much slower at recharging) could be added, serving as a solution to the "Oh shit my mech is dry." problem.
Combat.
A mech is a large machine the way I see it.
As such it should do a decent amount of melee damage well above the average of the regular colonist.
Facing one of these in melee should be certain death, not great if you want to take prisoners.
It's weaponry should also be of the larger variant, allowing for much destruction and again not great for taking prisoners.
Now obviously unless its a war mech it probably shouldn't carry weapons, but all of them should have the strength in their favour.
In terms of health and cover I think a mech would have quite a decent amount of HP/armour allowing for it to take a beating.
With cover I think it would suit best if it wasn't applied at all to the mech, its after all a decent size so its center of mass would be well above any cover on the ground allowing for easy aiming at the vital parts of the mech. (Unless the enemy is really into shooting feet!)
To make the war mech more appealing you could also take the person inside of the mech into account.
Allowing him/her to take damage, a mining mech may not need the best of shielding therefore making the controller an easy target!
Where as the war mech would provide plenty of cover.
That kinda brings me onto ways the thing can die.
I think the mech could have a number of ways to die/get disabled.
Stuff like loosing its legs/arms, its main computer being damaged turning it into a pile of steel.
Critical damage resulting in a big explosion, fires everywhere.
Its user being killed leaving it with no one to control it. (Pirate mech = epic loot?)
Research.
A mech shouldn't just be a go-to option.
Now I'm a fan of research that gives multiple options, I dislike systems where you research something specific.
I much rather research something that opens up options across the board, maybe I get a speed upgrade for mining equipment that also allows me to build a vital mining part of the mining mech?
As such I would probably tie the research requirements into other things, not saying there couldn't be one or two costly research things that are mostly mech related.
That's just how I would of done it, however not a easy thing to comment on when clearly research still have a way to go and will probably require rebalancing as the game comes along.
I feel it has the potential for interesting game play, I mean image this.
The player would rely on these mechs for his defence against pirates during the dark season.
A wave of pirates appear and the player instantly sends them out against them, winning the battle!
However, these mechs did not just get damaged but used most of their power and are now at less than optimal condition.
The mechs are obviously sent directly back and into their charging stations and repairs beginning once the colonists have the time.
But before any real recharging or repairs are allowed a second attack appears!
What you have just used your mechs on dealing with turned out to be nothing but a smaller scout force/wave.
And you're now left with no choice but to use what power you have left on recharging these as well as hurry your colonists onto the tasks of repairing these machines.
You did just deal with one attack though and most of your colonists are tired and hardly recovered from the last attack.
You're now at the edge of what you're capable of handling.
You march into battle again come out victories, but at what cost? A few colonists are now running on fumes, some may even be dead, killed while steering their mechs into battle, etc, etc.
It's probably a long shot of an idea, but I just felt that if I'm ever going to see mech's in a game the like of DF, PA, etc.
It's something along the lines of Rimworld, it's simply the only 'setting' where it makes sense.
So I had to give it a shot in terms of suggesting it!
I hope it made sense and it wasn't just writing of a mad-wanna-be game designer.
I did try and take a look around but I found nothing specific.
I do apologize though if this has been talked to death or belong in some already existing thread.
My English is not the best either, and my grammar is terrible, you've been warned.
So a suggestion Mechs/Mech suits!
You could totally add all kinds of them.
Mining, Builder, war-mech?
How would they work?
Types:
Well obviously for the Mech's to be worthwhile they'll have to make things easier for you as a player.
It therefore, goes without saying that they'll need to be quite buffed in the area they are specialized in.
The Mining mech needs to dig faster, while also maybe have some storage?
Builder have a faster building speed?
War-mech some kind of inbuild weapon system, high amount of defense/HP?
etc.
Saying that.
I do believe all mechs should to some extend offer a degree of protection as well as higher melee damage.
Balance.
Well as said the Mech should excel in the areas its specialized in, otherwise what's the point?
I can't really comment much in terms of speed of building or mining as first of all I haven't actually played the game.
And secondly, I'm sure that would be something that'll have to be done as you developer the game.
But here is some thoughts I think I could comment on.
Buildings.
The mech shouldn't just be build out of blue, I feel a workstation could be added (possible to be used with other elements of the game?)
That would allow colonists to build the mech, upgrade or even repair.
With that a charging station could be added, allowing recharging of the mech as well as a parking space for it.
But maybe you'll want to save resources so a simply 'parking spot' which is nothing but a few markings on the ground, could be added.
Allowing for multiple mechs to be parked in spots that would cost no/close to no resources but also offer nothing but just that, a place to park.
Power.
The mech should require power, recharged by your base it self.
As said the recharge station would obviously power the mech but also serve as a 'parking spot' if you will.
What would it use power on?
Well adding power costs to all its actions and a timer on the recharging of the mech would serve well for balance.
Players should then probably have the ability to decide how much the mech is used, even allow them to run it dry of power if they wished.
A portable recharging station (Though much slower at recharging) could be added, serving as a solution to the "Oh shit my mech is dry." problem.
Combat.
A mech is a large machine the way I see it.
As such it should do a decent amount of melee damage well above the average of the regular colonist.
Facing one of these in melee should be certain death, not great if you want to take prisoners.
It's weaponry should also be of the larger variant, allowing for much destruction and again not great for taking prisoners.
Now obviously unless its a war mech it probably shouldn't carry weapons, but all of them should have the strength in their favour.
In terms of health and cover I think a mech would have quite a decent amount of HP/armour allowing for it to take a beating.
With cover I think it would suit best if it wasn't applied at all to the mech, its after all a decent size so its center of mass would be well above any cover on the ground allowing for easy aiming at the vital parts of the mech. (Unless the enemy is really into shooting feet!)
To make the war mech more appealing you could also take the person inside of the mech into account.
Allowing him/her to take damage, a mining mech may not need the best of shielding therefore making the controller an easy target!
Where as the war mech would provide plenty of cover.
That kinda brings me onto ways the thing can die.
I think the mech could have a number of ways to die/get disabled.
Stuff like loosing its legs/arms, its main computer being damaged turning it into a pile of steel.
Critical damage resulting in a big explosion, fires everywhere.
Its user being killed leaving it with no one to control it. (Pirate mech = epic loot?)
Research.
A mech shouldn't just be a go-to option.
Now I'm a fan of research that gives multiple options, I dislike systems where you research something specific.
I much rather research something that opens up options across the board, maybe I get a speed upgrade for mining equipment that also allows me to build a vital mining part of the mining mech?
As such I would probably tie the research requirements into other things, not saying there couldn't be one or two costly research things that are mostly mech related.
That's just how I would of done it, however not a easy thing to comment on when clearly research still have a way to go and will probably require rebalancing as the game comes along.
I feel it has the potential for interesting game play, I mean image this.
The player would rely on these mechs for his defence against pirates during the dark season.
A wave of pirates appear and the player instantly sends them out against them, winning the battle!
However, these mechs did not just get damaged but used most of their power and are now at less than optimal condition.
The mechs are obviously sent directly back and into their charging stations and repairs beginning once the colonists have the time.
But before any real recharging or repairs are allowed a second attack appears!
What you have just used your mechs on dealing with turned out to be nothing but a smaller scout force/wave.
And you're now left with no choice but to use what power you have left on recharging these as well as hurry your colonists onto the tasks of repairing these machines.
You did just deal with one attack though and most of your colonists are tired and hardly recovered from the last attack.
You're now at the edge of what you're capable of handling.
You march into battle again come out victories, but at what cost? A few colonists are now running on fumes, some may even be dead, killed while steering their mechs into battle, etc, etc.
It's probably a long shot of an idea, but I just felt that if I'm ever going to see mech's in a game the like of DF, PA, etc.
It's something along the lines of Rimworld, it's simply the only 'setting' where it makes sense.
So I had to give it a shot in terms of suggesting it!
I hope it made sense and it wasn't just writing of a mad-wanna-be game designer.