Messages

I read all the stuff you guys wrote and I do like the general notion. My idea for the mechanoids was to exploit the inventory / clothing system to upgrade the mechanoids. So where I want to go is that when you chip a mechanoid, you don't choose a function yet - it just makes it stand around, essentially. Then you can plop in a function chip (given that it's compatible with the mechanoid type) and possibly various upgrades that have been researched.

Implementing extra research items is indeed not very difficult. The trouble lies in the effects of the research / chip. For some things, like changing existing stats, it's no problem. For new things it will be more work (sometimes significantly / unpredictably much more).

Since both of you seem to have some pretty good ideas and strong motivation for this, I hereby extend the offer to help me with the mod and temporarily share ownership of the mod. I don't have much time for it, so for example someone to plan / test / balance research and upgrades would be very helpful. Also someone to take care of the corresponding XML files just as well.

There are also several new mechanoid types in the pipe that Joey has prepared. Adding some more of them would also be a lot of work but add a lot to the mod. So that'd be a question of prioritization - upgrades or new mechanoid types?

And of course there's also the neverending task of upgrading to the latest version of RimWorld.



On the idea of limiting the amount of mechanoids: Since PAL is gone, I don't want to add a rigid limit to the amount, but rather make the player dependent on spare parts that are not always easy to find / expensive to create / needed in large quantities. So the amount of (functioning) mechanoids a player can have is limited by his supply of spare parts to keep fixing them up.
If he runs out of them, he'll soon have lots of piles of junk standing around the corners of his base. And the obvious source of new parts are mechanoid raids - so with increasingly tougher raids the players capacity for more mechanoids increases as well. A natural balancing mechanism.

I would try to help, but I don't really know about coding.
I am sorta familiar with the xml files because they are pretty straight forward and I sometimes messed with a mod a bit to make it more to my liking, but all I can really to is change stuff already made and stuff.

Also, real life sorta caught up to me, so I might be able to find a hour or so to read stuff and put up ideas and such, but not really much time to play and test.

Pretty nice, but it's kinda annoying that after finding a mod, we need to find it again using the mod/modmaker name.

And a little tip: Don't use the brain stimulator on colonists with dementia. Dementia is not as bad as the effects of the stimulator. The brain stimulator is meant to make colonists with serious brain damage useful again. I wouldn't even recommend it with half the brain destroyed.

I just wish the description implied this more.
I thought it was just supposed to boost current brain functions(in my defense, it did say consciousness +10%), so I gave it to one of my guys who where perfectly healthy.....
That's one mistake you won't repeat twice.

I was trying to think up of a username and failing, and a random name from a random comic just happened to catch my eye. I just added a few letters here and there and...

After that, I just didn't bother to think up a different one. I'm not very creative with names you see.

Oh, and to A Friend, you kinda remind me of a guy from the book inheritance. The guy who tried to kill Roran while saying repeatedly saying 'I'm a friend!'

653... er, anyone want to go bug Tynan?

I do LIKE the idea of having to upgrade your mechanoids mechanically first, but I'm not sure how difficult that would be to implement alongside the AI upgrades, additionally I feel like mechanoids already have top-tier hardware, but who knows, maybe the design has become outdated, especially since the mechanoid hives probably haven't updated their designs much. Overall I support the idea though.

Well, I felt that the reason for frequent mechanoid malfunctions, on top of poorly programmed overwrites and it's original want for slaughter, was poor hardware.
I mean, we did just shoot, burn, shred, and otherwise demolish the things, then left it sitting in the mod before we actually got to repairing the thing, and to top it all, we don't really know how to make these things. The mechanoids that attack us would have top-tier hardware, but the ones we use would have busted up, poorly patched makeshift hardware. Not exactly the best thing for a high-tech AI.

I mean... I don't think it matters too much overall. While I do like "Advanced Mechanoid Hull" as an alternative, the current name of the upgrade is there to provide a bit more flavor. But maybe.

It's just that it kinda feels odd to me that we would be able to make a brand-new alloy, but only be able to make it for mechanoids, and on a machining table to boot.

Um, Ok.. I installed this mod, and wrote a few backstories.
The moment I 'activated' the mod, the screen turned completely black, and now I can't play without removing it from my mods folder. The moment I put it back, the game gets a black screen again. Help?

Edit:
Ok, I fiddled with a few stuff, and after deleting the unused config, name, and pawnbio defs, the game does not get a black screen anymore.

Edit2:
Re-added the configdef, but for some reason, I cannot seem to find my custom made backstories in the game, not when using the EdB prepare carefully mod, and not when spawning tons of colonists, raiders, and slave traders and checking each one. Spawn catagories have been written

Edit3:
After deleting and re-installing the entire thing, the mod works... sorta. A few of the backstories are there, but a few aren't...
(Oh, and plant growing and cooking is considered skill labor, but art isn't?)

Edit4:
Ok, after fixing a bunch of spelling mistakes and such, it works now. Whew, that was hard.

Can we edit existing backstories with this?

I like the ideas, though a few things I would like to add is:

I think AI should have a higher 'level' then upgrades. For example, before you could go fiddling with AI and giving them new programming, you'd first have to research other parts and have a better understanding of the mechanoids.
So instead of mechanoid reprogramming-> Behaviors->Other, it would go in a order more like
Reprogramming-> Mechanical upgrades-> Advanced AI.

The reason I think this is because
1. A balance reason. Mechanoids are a very strong unit, able to soak up much more damage then colonists, and also deal a scary amount of damage. A scyther can easily destroy the torso of a colonist in a few hits, and a centipede can easily one-shot colonists with purely melee attacks. I've seen them take out multiple colonists simply by meleeing them and still be ready to fight some more. Getting into melee with mechanoids can easily get you killed, since they deal much more damage, and can withstand much more damage. A commandable mechanoid, even if they can only melee at 70% speed, would be a powerful asset to your colony, and devastating at ambushes. I feel it's too powerful a ability to be gotten so quickly, especially since research is easy. Find a good researcher, and even something with 2500 research points can be unlocked in but a few weeks, if not days.
2. A storyline/'logic' reason. I think that fiddling with dangerous AI is not a good idea without a basic understanding of what's going on. Sure, we can make them do simple jobs, but even that takes research, and more importantly, it's a unfinished tech that has lots of drawbacks and needs constant maintenance.
If we wanted to play with more advanced things, I feel it's only right that we would first improve the hardware before the software. If we where still using the 1940's ENIAC, we won't be able to use anything like the software we have now, right?
It only seems fitting that before we give our mechanoids better software, we need to upgrade the hardware with things like better cooling, better gears, better chips, etc to let them handle the advanced AI before we give them the advanced AI.

Incompatible/complementing/required upgrades.
For example, a combat AI would be incompatible with a work AI, but need a cooler upgrade to prevent overheating.
I feel this is needed to prevent one mechanoid from being a solution for all things. A mechanoid should be used for work or combat, but not both.
So upgrades should be split into 'work' 'combat' and 'upgrades/modules/add-ons'
Hmm, maybe research could be
mechanoid reconstruction->basic AI, basic parts->advanced AI, advanced parts?

Finally, this is just me, but I don't think 'urasteel hull' is a good name for the upgrade. Maybe 'mechanoid hull' or 'advanced mechanoid hull', but not 'urasteel hull'. I just think we shouldn't be bringing in brand-new metal types.

Meh. Not really my thing. I like to think by the time people are advanced enough to get crashed on a foreign planet they are advanced enough to leave silly things like religions behind - at least most of them.

Well, a lot of the people are from medieval worlds or are club-toting tribesmen... and while religions are not for all, you're crashed on a deserted planet where people are trying to kill you every other week. I think that's a good time as any to start asking favors from a higher being. Doesn't cost us a thing, right? Besides, who doesn't like pushing the blame to higher forces?

On another note, won't it be nice if colonists had pets? Not as entities, but like little fish in bowls and hamsters in cages you can buy then install in the colonist's rooms/assign a colonist to like beds, and they can go watch/play/feed/whatever with the pet and be happy.

This is a totally random thing, but I think the crawler's plasma cutter should be changed to 'crawler claw' or something like that. I just don't know how a crawler can haul and clean with a plasma cutter, but not cut plants.

On a separate note, if wounded mechanoids go berserk, you could, in theory, use them for combat by sending a bunch out to raiders, and having them go berserk and attack them when hurt, right?

Frankly though, if I where the colonists, I wouldn't want to use mechanoids for battle all that much. Maybe strap explosives to crawlers and scythers as suicide bombers, or a centipede with weapons removed acting as a mobile wall, but actually fighting next to me with guns when a single bullet might make our makeshift programming malfunction? No thanks. And suicide bombing seems a bit of a waste to use them for.

Maybe if we really dumbed them down, leaving only the very basic things needed for combat, and/or gave them weak weapons, I might feel safer.

On a totally random note, I was thinking it would be really cool if we could attach mechanoids to colonists.
I'm just imagining a guy with a crawler on his right arm, a scyther-exoskeleton around him, centipede armor plates on his face and chest, and a flamebot attached to his left hand. Probably impractical as heck to do, but it's cool to think about it.

How about alters and shrines where colonists go en-mass to pray?

I just realized, but all card tables boost research?

They do, so does chess. It's very slow, though. Think of how doing crossword puzzles or sudoku keeps your mind sharp; it's because you're using cognitive processes, not just staring blankly at a TV.

I was just thinking how having a bunch of different looking tables that pretty much have the same effect was kinda.. bland
Pity we don't have stuff like intellect or whatever.

Agreed. Only having one table for colonists to sit down at and play either alone or together is also bland, though. It's more for aesthetic; the only reason any of the tables and arcades give skill points is because I saw the chess table gave a small amount of research. Not enough to level up to a legendary researcher, but enough that your level 12 researcher stays at level 12. I loved the idea, so I ran with it.

RimColony boosts Social, not Research, btw.

On a side note, horseshoes and billiards boost shooting, and I think talking to people boosts social.

Anyways , any researcher of mine tends to spend nearly all their time researching, so they rarely lose any levels as they constantly research till all research is done. Research jobs seems to devote all the worktime of the colonist into it, unlike other jobs, so I find research is the one thing I need to worry the least about having a colonist lose efficiency in.

Edit: I was just thinking, but you put looking at pictures as a joy thing, right? How about statue-viewing as a joy activity?

Another random idea!

'Joywire' a small machine implanted on the back of a colonist's head. Provides constant joy for a small penalty in manipulation, moving, etc.

On a side note, if I gave my warden two crystal eyes, would that have any negative consequences?

The joywire idea is good, but it's exactly the same as the old drugged rib. Look here if you want further information and maybe you could help me bringing the rib back because I think it was a very nice addition.

Actually, the drugged rib just gives a happy thought, right? I was thinking about having the colonists joy need topped off all the time, so you can work their bones off without any breaks and they won't need to do any joy stuff

I just realized, but all card tables boost research?

They do, so does chess. It's very slow, though. Think of how doing crossword puzzles or sudoku keeps your mind sharp; it's because you're using cognitive processes, not just staring blankly at a TV.

I was just thinking how having a bunch of different looking tables that pretty much have the same effect was kinda.. bland
Pity we don't have stuff like intellect or whatever.