Messages

30 tribals appearing at the edge of the map, or pirate drop pods crashing down into my garden, or giant hungry insects bursting up through the cave floor is enough of a surprise for me.

Keep an eye on pawn health bars. If it's partially red, it means they are missing a limb or an organ.

Hmm, I guess I vaguely see those whenever I go to the Work tab.  Not exactly convenient, and definitely not something I monitor constantly.  I still say a permanent alert would be more appropriate.

What do you guys do with the poor quality crafted clothes?

I throw all clothes into a warehouse (if I can't afford the interior space, a patch of dirt out in the rain will do for a while).  Then I let my colonists decide if they want to change shirts or whatever - they will go pick up better items on their own if their current clothes get worn out.  Worn out clothes just stay in the stockpile until a trader comes walking by who's willing to pay a few cents for them.  I guess there is probably a way to deconstruct them for a few threads of cloth, but I'm guessing this isn't worth my time.

Someone feel free to tell me if I am being dumb.

When I wonder about the appropriateness of anything in this game, I think back to Firefly, which Tynan often cites as a major setting inspiration.

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Reynolds: Pardon me, Kaylee, Shepherd; didn't mean to interrupt.  Picked up some rations - here.

Kaylee: Well!  Captain!  This is the good stuff!  Guess the mission turned out shiny?

Shepherd Book: It's satisfying to see your hard work earn a just reward, Captain.

Reynolds: Mission went south, but ... we met a trader on the way back.  We don't need to worry none about that Fed spy tried to infiltrate us no more.

Kaylee: The spy?  But Captain, we had him locked up, no fight left in him.  You put him onto the planet?

Shepherd Book: Was that wise, Captain?  Even out here, he may be able to inform the Federation of our whereabouts.

Reynolds: Sold him to the trader as a rape slave.  As I say, he won't be botherin' us no more.  Got us a full fuel tank and even a few of those strawberries you like, Kaylee.

Kaylee: ...

Shepherd Book: ...

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Yes, unless your colonists are Psychopaths, slave trading should be demoralizing throughout the colony.

[Heterosexual]

Yeah ... make sexuality a basic descriptor; it shouldn't take up a Trait slot.  That would imply that gays are fundamentally less interesting than straight people, which makes no sense.

I like the idea of throwing Asexual/Bisexual in there as well.  Would be really simple to tease out the metrics:
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Heterosexual: can make romantic advances towards opposite gender / can accept advances from opposite gender.  Mood penalty for rejection, Mood bonus for acceptance/sleeping with them/etc.

Homosexual: can make romantic advances towards same gender / can accept advances from same gender.  Mood penalty for rejection, Mood bonus for acceptance/sleeping with them/etc.

Bisexual: can make romantic advances towards or accept them from either gender.  Mood penalty for rejection, Mood bonus for acceptance/sleeping with them/etc.

Asexual: cannot make romantic advances and must always reject romantic advances.  No Mood bonuses or penalties, but social penalties for unfavorable interactions may still apply.
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Stuff like Transexual wouldn't have any obvious gameplay implications and should be left out.  If the player wants to role-play that a female character was born a man but is really a woman and made that transformation, nothing's stopping them.

Bonus points for the devs if sexual orientation is a hidden trait.  Let it emerge during gameplay.  That guy hits on both men and women.  That girl rejects all advances from either gender.  Those two seem to be a typical hetero couple.  I honestly don't see it as a big enough thing that it needs to be listed on the character sheet at all.

...  But I have to admit I like the idea of a homophobic player losing his shit when his two favorite tough guy soldiers become lovers. 

Personally, I am completely fine with a 2D game.

A wood burning lantern is fine.

I don't see a problem if players set up a storage space outside of their colony to fill it with valuable stuff to prevent damage of their colony.

Leaving "tribute" out for the raiders to avoid violence ... that's a really cool idea.

Look under the Architect/Joy section.  You should find TVs right next to horseshoes and chessboards.

Some great advice in the last couple posts, thank you Divinion and MisterVertigo.

[everything]

I'd really like it if we could reinstall everything.  Even a workbench should be movable.  It's fine if I have to pay a small penalty in installation costs, but it sucks wanting to move a stove and having to utterly destroy the original to salvage a few parts.

[now]

You do know that for most jobs, you can right click on the blueprint/unset trap/unflipped switch/whatever while a single colonist is selected, and you can order them to do that job immediately.

It would really be nice if this worked a little better.  When I tell a guy we need a new generator built now, he hauls one load of steel and then goes off to play horseshoes.

I actually like that characters are constantly checking and rechecking their priorities, but the "force build" option needs more teeth.  Something more like the singlemindedness of the drafting system.

A skill 10 cook can easily boost a single colonist's mood by at least 15, and it can be as high as 30. And arguably such a cook needs less support than equipping a +5 mood room.

So what?  Does every Mood point need to be equally difficult to get?  It's OK for some things ... like good food and drink ... to be more important than others like art and pretty furniture.

[try]

Threats should also be scaling with time. You SHOULD have to increase your defense to keep up otherwise its all about throttling your own percieved wealth to stay afloat..

What's wrong with that?  What if I want to tell a story about a couple guys who try to stay hidden and not draw attention to themselves with a giant fortress?  Does it make sense that 200 tribals must eventually storm their tiny shack?