Topics

Pretty simple. The ability to carry more than one thing. Particularly if it's guns, clothing, armour, etc... a person could very easily cart more than one.

Currently cleaning up after battles can take days

Hey all. The title is pretty self explanatory. But basically: the ability to specify the construction of solar panels on various roofs. It'll free up ground space as well as making sense (it seems to be the way that solar panels are used today for localized use.

Related to roofs: I personally find the "create no roof region / remove no roof region" system pretty - (to be honest) - pointless. Seems like it makes logical sense to make us build roofs ourselves like we build the rest of a structure. We build walls, floors, but we have to manage some hokey zones for roofs.

ps Loving the progress. Alpha 6 got me back in after passing over a couple alphas. Great work!

During the day, I see my 30 colonists rooms lit up like a christmas tree... I can hear my mums voice telling me to turn off the lights.

It would be nice that if a room is not in use, or if the colonist is sleeping: then the last person to leave will turn out the lights. This could work for bedrooms, or public areas.

Maybe a character trait of "Power Smart" means the colonist commonly turns off lights in rooms that are not his own after checking if anyone is inside. It could be a cool little animation: when the colonist walks by the room, he opens the door, does a speech bubble indicating that he's yelled to see if anyone is inside, then turns the light off.

On the other hand a"Power Stupid" person might forget to turn his own lights off, and even more commonly: any public room.

[Colonizing in Caves / Building underground]

Hey Ludeon/Fellow players,

First off - love the game so far. I'm very happy with spending $30 on this project. The best part is: I know the money I've given goes right to you, and your team - and there is no third party publisher getting his greedy little hands on it. I'm also happy to be supporting Canadian talent.

On to the reason for my post: Colonizing in Caves / Building underground

In a few words, I will express my opinion (you don't have to agree): I feel that building a colony underground would be very difficult to maintain despite it's obvious advantages.
The complexities of a fully functional cave/mining  system are vast and detailed - hence why mining is such big money! Conversely: the benefits of an underground colony are hard to ignore - specifically the safety factor.

Advantages:
- Safety from unpredictable weather. Storms, maybe sandstorms in the future that will damage buildings/crops or even kill colonists? These do exist in deserts even on Earth.
- Safety from raiders. Unless raiders decide to tunnel in to a mountain after you (potential feature), then you can easily funnel your attackers to a battleground you control - giving you a decisive advantage
- Fewer resources expended on structures. Naturally: to build a structure in a cave you simply hollow out the section you want to be in and you're done. With exterior structures - you need to spend money on walls and roofs.
- Camouflage. If you don't have any exterior structures showing, then maybe the raider would simply walk by - or get tired of searching. Having only a single door that is maybe disguised as a rock could be your first and best line of defense.

Disadvantages:
- Sunlight. People need to see the light. Without it, there are health concerns - both physical and mental. Being underground constantly will make people feel cramped. It's also inherently unnatural for humans. People just can't do it for long
- Breathing Air Infrastructural requirements (I'm aware that breathing air is not currently in the scope of the game). Maintaining a ventilation/supply system is a constant battle against entropy. Bringing in air, and ensuring it's circulation throughout a cave system takes massive infrastructure which grows proportionally to the cave system. There are a number of interesting game mechanic opportunities to introduce if air was something to consider.
- Water. (Obviously not in the current game scope as well). Similar to the air requirement. But this one is cool because you could technically find a spring in the cave. You might detect it first, or accidentally dig in to it and start a flood. Maybe it needs a filter, maybe it's clean. Or you could aquaduct the water in from an exterior river/stream/spring.


This is just a short list off the top of my head. I know the game is not finished - I just wanted to put this out there and see what others think. I like the Dwarf Fortress feel of mining everything out, but we're not Dwarves, and there are a number of reasons why humans have never built underground.

I'm interested to hear other peoples' ideas and opinions as well. I'd especially like to hear what people think about air/water supply/waste.

-JayNic