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Messages - Boston

#46
Ideas / Re: Melee weapons need reach.
December 14, 2017, 12:06:48 PM
Quote from: Limdood on December 14, 2017, 09:39:42 AM
the flip side of your suggestion would suck though, especially with the way damage works in this game.

historically, spears were built to hit enemies before they could hit you.  Also historically, those 9-20 foot spears were useless if you failed to completely kill the person before they reached you.

If you made spears reach an extra tile due to "how spears really behaved historically" you'd also have to make them useless while adjacent, and considering you rarely down a pawn with 1 hit, and its very difficult to run from something hitting you, that would probably make spears among the worst weapons in game.

Though the fact that arguably the second simplest human weapon ever created (pointy stick...slightly less simple than "stick") is gated behind the "long blade" technology could use a bit of explaining...

Contrary to what you (and others) may think, spears and other polearms arent useless once an opponent gets inside the point.

You can do this little technique called "choking up", where you hold the spearshaft closer to the head, to allow for closer usage. Many historical spears were balanced so you can do this with one hand.

Of course, you could always just check an opponent with the shaft, hockey-style. That can break ribs in and of itself.

On a one-vs-one duel with manuvering room, i, with a spear weilded two-handed, can outspar a sword-and-shieldman easily. Its more difficult with spear-and-shield, but still doable. Even wielding a 7ft spear with one hand (so about 3 1\2 up the shaft), i still tend to have more range than the swordsman.

In spite of what your girlfriend tells you, inches -do- matter  ;)
#47
Ideas / Re: Leather should have to be refined from hide?
December 13, 2017, 08:06:54 AM
 Same thing with wool and cotton. You actually have to spin the raw material into thread, then weave it into cloth, before you can make clothing from it
#48
General Discussion / Re: The Wonder of 5% Worlds
December 11, 2017, 09:31:40 PM
Rimworld has more than "Space Western" going for it.
#49
General Discussion / Re: The Wonder of 5% Worlds
December 11, 2017, 01:04:58 PM
The British Empire had a world-spanning empire with industrial-level technology.

The Iroquois Confederacy had regional power across much of the northeastern usn there were neolithic European cultures that covered most of Europe in their time (the Beaker culture, for example)

People didn't wait until 1850 to build regional or even international powerbases.
#50
Ideas / Re: More in-depth beer
December 08, 2017, 11:40:49 AM
1) already happens

2) already happens IIRC

3) absolute nonsense

Methanol is a byproduct of the process of distilling ethanol. It is present because it boils out of the mash at a lower temperature than ethanol.

If you arent distilling ethanol, you wont get methanol byproducts. Beer is fermented, not distilled.

4) also nonsense.

For one, you need liquids with high flammability for use in a molotov cocktail. Beer has an ABV% of anywhere between 3-10%. That isnt nearly high enough.

Secondly, molotov cocktails are more than just a flash of flame. Even high-proof spirits function poorly as molotov-fuel, because alone they just flash up and go out. You need to mix the spirit with something like tar or oil to let it actually meaningfully burn.

I, for one, think that brewing should be both expanded and simplified. Let me explain.

Brewing is,quite literally, stone age technology. Archaeologists actually hypothesize that the neolithic revolution (aka the spread of agriculture) was started in order to ensure enough grain was available to use for beer, as opposed for food. Humans brewed beer back in the PALEOLITHIC.

Hops arent necessary to brew beer. All they do is add flavor and act as a preservative. All you technically need is a starch (which can be pretty much any food crop, including all the growable crops in game.) And yeast, which cqn be found on the surfaces of most plant crops.

I feel that forcing me to grow hops in order to produce a dietary staple, when in reality i could use excess potatoes, corn,  even wild berries or cattails (iv3 mad3 cattail beer in real life. It turned out excellent) is needlessly restrictive
#51
Quote from: Shurp on December 03, 2017, 05:15:20 PM
In real life, dry trees burn like crazy.  Wet trees barely burn at all.

In order to reflect this in Rimworld, the developer would have to add a hydration system to keep track of how much rainwater each tree has soaked up.  Dry trees at the end of autumn would go up like matchsticks.  Wet trees at the end of spring would barely burn at all.

Since the developer has better things to do, this isn't going to happen.  So having your colonists put out the fires by hand (it *can* be done if you're disciplined about it, but it takes a lot of micromanagement) or relying of the mandatory deluge are your best options.

It depends on the tree. Resinous trees, like the various pines and conifers, catch on fire very easily even when green. Pitch pines will almost-literally explode into flame.

And, if there is a lot of downed wood, detritus and other undergrowth (aka, in a forest where controlled burns aren't done on the the regular, -ahem- California), it doesn't matter if the trees are green; there is enough fuel on the ground to cause a fire regardless.
#52
Forests can be, and often are, that flammable in real life. Do you watch the news?

There are hundreds of square miles of the Western US that are constantly burning. Anywhere that is designated as a "pine barren', is almost 'supposed' to burn regularly, to clear out underbrush and allow the specialized trees in a pine barren ecosystem to reproduce.
#53
General Discussion / Re: Weapon time span
November 27, 2017, 12:43:31 PM
Quote from: FalconBR on November 27, 2017, 11:46:29 AM
I just fail to understand why would anyone make a m16 in the future, on a harsh planet like that, ak-47 should be the right pick.

Contrary to the "popular myth" about AK-pattern assault rifles, they need just as much cleaning and maintenance as any other assault rifle, and can actually jam pretty friggen bad. The tolerances in the rifle arent as close as, say, the m16, but all that means is that larger stuff can get into the AK.

also, modern M16-pattern and derived rifles are very reliable, on top of being lightweight, accurate and effective.

The reasonn vietnam-era m16 rifles were so awful isnt because the rifle is just bad, but because the rounds they fired contained shittu powder, leading to rapid fouling, which when coupled with the fact that the barrels were aupposed to be chrome-lined and therefore self-cleaning (hint: they werent), lead to high rates of jamming.. But the modern rifles, so long as you clean them, are very effective firearms
#54
General Discussion / Re: Weapon time span
November 26, 2017, 04:34:33 PM
-facepalm-

This question comes up so many times, and I always have the same answer:

Why change what isn't broken?

#55
Ideas / Re: Support for tundra tribal starts
November 25, 2017, 04:17:37 PM
Part of my issues with 'tribal technologies' is that, well, a great deal of the stuff tribal have to research early on, like carpets, 'complex clothing', and the like..... have been known about for about 10,000 years in the real world, since the Neolithic at least, and almost-overwhelmingly-likely earlier.

Aboriginal European Neolithic people knew what pants and shirts were, folks. They didn't wander around in Flintstones-esque 'tribalwear', furs hanging off the shoulder. They had https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warp-weighted_loom, and manufactured trousers, jackets, shirts, cloaks, from wool and linen and cotton. They also knew what carpets and floor-coverings were, and weaved rugs and the like from wool, reeds, grasses, so on and so forth. They also knew what friggen beds were.
#56
Ideas / Re: [A18] Bed research
November 10, 2017, 01:00:13 PM
Hammocks are only really 'good' on climates where one wants to be cool: equatorial\tropical rainforests, the like.

In anyvpther environment, a bedroll and blankets were used. This often includes deserts, where it often gets quite cold at night.

As always, modded rimworld is almost infinitely better than vanilla, and there is a rather impressive Tribal mod that includes, among other things, blanket-beds.
#57
Ideas / Re: [A18] Bed research
November 08, 2017, 05:40:45 PM
Quote from: freemapa on November 08, 2017, 05:24:03 PM
Quote from: Boston on November 08, 2017, 04:54:41 PM
You know what? Fine. Tribals 'don't know how" to build a modern bedstand. Ok.

Do you know how to build a modern bedstand? Or would you need to do some research first?

I think you're missing the point (or maybe just trolling). Bedside tables and dressers are new in [A18]. As is the new bed research. I'm not commenting about whether it is realistic or not that tribal people can't make beds. I'm just pointing out that it seems weird to assume that absolutely anyone can build a dresser, but making a bed, well that requires research for some reason. I mean in my latest tribal start, I have a village with about 8 wooden sleeping cabins. Each one has wood floors, wood walls, a roof, good quality or higher dressers, good quality or higher side tables, a torch, and a potted plant. With all this, it just seems weird that they are sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag.

Don't get me wrong, I like the sleeping bags, but I think that the placement of the dressers and bedside tables in the research tree would be best suited at the same place as the bed research.

Yes, I know how to build a modern bedstand. The concept of a raised bed isn't rocket science.

And I never said anything about sleeping bags. A bedroll, made of a sleeping pad, some blankets, furs, so on and so forth, is what most people in the world slept on, from prehistory up until about 200 years ago.

Shelves, chairs, all sorts of furniture has been known about since prehistory. Take a look at Skara Brae, or Catalhoyuk, both Neolithic villages. None of the furnishings in there are in any way unrecognizable from what someone in the modern day would use, asides from being made of wood, reed, wicker and stone instead of modern plastics and fiberboard.
#58
Ideas / Re: [A18] Bed research
November 08, 2017, 04:54:41 PM
Quote from: Aerial on November 08, 2017, 03:15:10 PM
It would make more sense if tribals had to research "furniture" which would include beds, dressers, tables, chairs, end tables, etc.  And tribals shouldn't get the "ate without table" debuff, ever :-)

Why?

Contrary to what you may believe, furniture, beds, 'complex' clothing, all of that has existed for 10,000+ years.

It is, to be blunt, stupid that people, including the developer, think anyone born before the equivalent of the 1800s was a mouth-breathing idiot.

You know what? Fine. Tribals 'don't know how" to build a modern bedstand. Ok.

.... give them a primitive equivalent. A bedroll, made of blankets and furs.
#59
1) Play as Tribals. When you play as Tribals, they are in turn easier to recruit.

2) Download the mod "Children and Pregnancy". A17 only for now.

https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=28747.0
#60
If I may make a suggestion, as someone that makes and uses the 'primitive' weapons present in Rimworld.

One of the main benefits of using a bow or a javelin is that chances are likely you can pick up and reuse a projectile. Sure, the shaft may be bent or even broken, but so long as the projectile tip is still functional, you can make a new shaft relatively easily.

To come to my main point: can it be made possible where 'primitive' weapons (aka bows and javelins) do not 'use' ammunition, to represent them being scavenged from the environment after a fight?

Because, to be frank, the current ammunition system makes playing as tribespeople very, very taxing on resources, to say the least. Every missed arrow or javelin, or hell, even one that hits the target, is steel that I can never get back, when in 'reality' I could just search for the damn thing, or pull it from the target.

I don't want the ammunition system removed from the game, and I like it..... this is just the only way I can think to represent reusing primitive ammunition without turning the entire option off